


Of Modesty and Overachievers

by mobilisinmobili



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Coach Victor Nikiforov, College Student Katsuki Yuuri, Confident Katsuki Yuuri, Poor Yakov Feltsman, Post-Grand Prix Final, Protective Yuri Plisetsky, Spontaneous Decisions, Supportive Victor Nikiforov, Teen Angst, University, Yuri Plisetsky Swears, he's scary, like really though.., overachieving, secret life, so much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2019-11-15 06:52:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18068663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobilisinmobili/pseuds/mobilisinmobili
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri is the single most modest overachiever in the history of modest overachievers..or.The one where Yuuri balances school with a long distance relationship AND skating all at once.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Do I have like 2 other stories in progress I should finish?  
> For sure.  
> Does that change anything?  
> No... I die for this trope where Yuuri goes back to school and wants to keep his full identity a secret but somehow gets outed in the most ridiculous way.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> This is post Grand Prix, I know some of the dates won't match up completely, but just squint and move on for my sake. pls and thank you

“No fucking way. Are you _insane?!”_ Yuuri winced, pulling the phone away from his ear at the last moment, waiting until the yelling had ended to bring his phone back.

“Yuuri, we have what, three weeks at most until August starts?. Even if you did decide to go through with everything, it’s a little late. Everything is normally due on like May 1st or something.”

“Well…” 

“Are you serious?! You sent in your decision already? Does Victor know? Hell, does the skating community know?”

“Victor and I’ve talked about it, but this is a SECRET, Phichit. I’m trying to stay on the down low.”

There was a burst of laughter on the other end before phichit responded.

“You know you’re not just any skater anymore, right? You’ve actually won, a lot. Like, _a lot_ a lot. Not to mention the fact that you’re married to Victor _freaking_ Nikiforov. How exactly do you intend to, stay on the _down low_ exactly? And can I see your application? Cause, I feel bad for the poor guy who has to look through the monster of a list that is your “awards and accomplishments” portion of the application.”

“Well, I won’t have to worry about that because, I just didn’t put anything other than a few global service awards I got. I just tried not to put anything related to skating just in case someone noticed my name. That way, they’ll just think it’s a fluke and I won’t have to deal with any sort of publicity-”

“Excuse me? Did you just say you didn’t put _any_ skating awards on your application? Like, none at all? Not even the ones you won in competitions in Japan?”

“The only thing skating related is the community service hours I did in Russia when I help Victor’s rink out with some goodwill open ice practices.”

“Who the heck has community service hours in different countries but also refuses to put actual awards?”

“Okay, I also wanted to see if I could get in with just my grades without anything else. If I did get noticed, I didn’t want people to be able to say that I got in just because I was a ranked athlete.”

He could practically _see_ the eye roll that followed Phichit’s sigh.

“Sometimes I think that you are _way_ too modest about yourself, Katsuki, I’m sure your hunk of a husband would care to agree.”

That brought out a genuine chuckle.

“He tells me so _very_ often. But, I feel like it’s just the perfect time for this. I don’t think I’ll need more than a year since I had other courses done. I may or may not have taken some international courses online here and there, so I should be okay on credits.”

“You skated _and_ did classes?!”

“Yeah, but, think of all of the essays I had to write. I just _couldn’t_ let it go.”

“You are _insane._ I swear. I mean, I’m obviously rooting for you, but at the same time, I seriously worry about your decision making skills.”

“Thanks for the support, Phichit.”

“I expect a hoodie in the mail.”

“Actually…”

“I need you to choose your next words _very_ carefully, my friend.”

“I may or may not be able to give it to you in person.”

“You’re coming here?”

“I’ll see you at Four Continents and maybe the World Championships?”

There was a long suffering sigh at the other end before Phichit replied.

“Don’t tell me, Nikiforov is taking time off again? Are you guys getting a place together or something? Is this some sort of weird version of a honeymoon slash break from skating?”

“No, no! Victor is gonna stay here in Russia. It’s just going to be me. But I’ll be using a public rink near the school. I'll probably just use the bus system or something”

“Who’s going to be your coach?”

“Ciao Ciao said he had a friend who was free for a season, so…”

“You don’t even know the guy’s name?”

“I haven’t been able to get to all of that. I’ve just been so busy with the paper work and everything. And it’s kind of been a stressful time for us here in Russia as well.”

“Ooo, do tell.”

“Phichit, you’ve got to promise me, this stays a _secret_. No one outside of our rink knows about this yet, but we’re going to be putting out a statement within the next month.”

“My lips are sealed. Cross my heart.”

“Yakov hasn’t been in the best condition for the past few months, so he’s going to retire early. Well, earlier than he wants to. So Victor is going to be taking over in coaching Yuri for a month while the new coach settles in. And since he’s got to practice his own program _and_ work with Yuri, he’s going to be busy. So I was thinking about sitting out for a season but then I got the idea to go back and get my degree. It just so happens that I would have a coach too. So I won’t be competing very much globally, but maybe a few here and there in the US?”

“Woah…”

“Yeah. Everyone’s trying their best to keep their cool but I know it’s hit Victor hard. I mean, Yakov’s been with him from before he even started actually competing. He’s told me that the man’s basically like the father he’s never really had. I can’t imaging the stress in  knowing that someone so close isn’t doing well healthwise.”

“Is he up to competing?”

“He had a freak out when Yakov told him, apparently he told Victor first. And he threatened to stop his treatment if Victor stopped skating just because of him.”

“Ouch…”

“Yeah. It was a really bad couple of days. But I think they talked after that. So Victor’s been working on his own routine and helping Yuri. Georgi decided that he wanted to change coaches, and Mila said she wanted to take things slow, so she’ll be the only senior skater working with the new coach from the get go.”

“How’s the angry little one taking things?”

Yuuri choked  before answering “Plisetsky?”

“Yeah, him.”

“Honestly, I can’t really say. I’ve never seen him so quiet. He had a three hour practice session yesterday with Victor and he didn’t yell or say anything mean the _entire_ time.”

Yuuri hummed.

“But I think he’s taken it hard too. I mean, he’s trained with Yakov for more than ten years. I’m sure they were close as well. And now that his grandfather moved in with his aunt and he has his own place, he’s got one less adult in his life.”

“Poor guy.”

“He may not look the part, but he’s actually a really caring guy. Just with a whole bunch of teenage hormones.”

“He’s what, nineteen?”

“He’s turning eighteen this year.” Yuuri corrected.

“Yikes…”

“He’s mellowed out a little-”

Yuuri’s phone vibrated as he received an onslaught of texts.

“Hey, I’ll call you right back.”

He ended the call only to be immediately faced with an incoming call from the angry little one himself.

“I know you said you were busy today, but I personally would like to request that you come to the rink. Like right now. Please.”

“...Are you okay?”

He heard muffled cursing before Yuri replied.

“Look, Victor said that you need to be especially polite sometimes to get what you want, but that was obviously shit advice. You need to get your goddamn ass over here because your fucking menopausal husband is crying. _Again._ I didn’t even say anything this time.”

“Is Victor okay?”

“You have two eyes. Get the fuck over here and see for yourself.”

Yuuri honestly wasn’t even surprised at the sudden dial tone as Yuri hung up on him.. Yet again..  

He sent off an apologetic message to Phichit before pulling a coat over his hoodie and sweats, toeing on his tennis shoes before calling for Makka who bounded enthusiastically to the front door where Yuuri waited with her lead.

“We’ve got some serious cheering up to do, Makka.” she wagged her tail excitedly as he clipped the lead to her collar.

And within seconds they were venturing out into the cold Russian afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

Yuuri smiled and waved at the junior skaters who were milled around the front of the rink getting their stretching in before their sessions. Many of them lit up the moment their eyes traveled to see the bouncing ball of fur.

There was maybe half an hour left of the senior level session, and it was always a treat for the juniors to stare starstruck at the upper level skaters.

Especially when Victor was actually working on his routine, which he was surprisingly enough.

Yuri noticed him first, skating over.

There was a rush of excited whispers as he neared.

“Mila let him know that the juniors were coming in early to watch.” he rolled his eyes.

“Can’t cry in front of them, but it’s totally okay to wipe out on ice in front of _everyone else._ ” Yuri spat. But it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I don’t blame him… They’re like a solid twenty years younger than him, give or take…” both skaters glanced back at the group who looked away sheepishly.

“True…But now that you’re here, you can get him off the ice. Make him go home early or something.” Yuri demanded, looking back out to where Victor landed his nth quad with ease.

“He hasn’t actually eaten anything today, you know. Other than that protein shake in the morning…”

“Seriously?!”

Yuri nodded slowly.

“Even Ludig couldn’t get him off the ice for lunch.” he nodded to the new coach who was working with Mila.

“He’s been doing jumps for _hours_ now.”

Yuuri narrowed his eyes, staring daggers as Victor bent over, hands on his knees obviously breathing hard.

“VICTOR NIKIFOROV I SWEAR TO GOD.” the group next to them jumped.

Even Yuri tensed, startled at the sudden shouting.

Victor looked over, eyes wide before breaking into a smile.

“Yuuri! Love, it’s your day off. What are you doing here?” he got gradually louder as he skated closer, sending the juniors group into hysterics.

Victor gave them a small wave before stepping off the ice, putting his guards on before enveloping Yuuri in a hug.

“Makka! Sweetheart! You’re here as well?”he knelt down to pet the excited poodle.

“Victor….” Victor lifted his head _oh so_ slowly, recognizing the disapproving tone.

“Yes?” he tried for a winning smile.

“We’re going home. Right now.”

“Right this very moment?”

“Right now. For lunch-” Yuuri looked down at his watch.

“-and dinner.”

“But-”

“No butts. I know you’ve probably skipped lunch.”

Even Makka whined.

“So I’ll give you a choice.”

Victors eyes lit up.

Choices were good.

“We go home, have lunch, _and_ dinner and stay home. Or-”

“Or?”

“We go get some pizza at that cafe near the rink-”

“Pizza?” Victor furrowed his brow.

“And you can come back once they finish their session” he nodded to the group of juniors who were adamantly trying to _not_ listen in. They knew that Katsuki Yuuri could be terrifying in his own right. Sometimes scarier than Plisetsky…

“Pizza is good.”

“Pizza is _very_ good.” Yuuri agreed with a nod.

“Yuri! I need you to come too.”

The blond turned sharply, distracted from the sit spin he was about to go into.

“Me? Why would you need me on your little dinner date?” he narrowed his eyes.

“I actually have something I need to talk to both of you about. It’s important.”

The blonde hesitated a moment longer before rolling his eyes, skating over and putting his guards on before stepping out of the rink.

“You’ve got two hours.” he turned to Victor

“Do you think they’ll resurface again?”

Victor shrugged.

“I have the keys to the zamboni if they don’t”

“How the hell did you get those?”

“I found them behind the counter one day-”

Yuuri coughed loudly.

“Two hours?” he quirked a brow.

“I’ll meet you two in the car.” he gave one last wave to the puzzled group of lower level skaters before making his way out, leaving Victor and Yuri to get their things together.

 

They settled into a booth near the back so that they wouldn’t be noticed, even though the teen working the cash register totally recognized them.

It was remedied by the _very_ generous tip Victor slipped him behind Yuuri.

So there they were, in the very back eating _pizza_ of all things in the middle of the week after a grueling training session.

“So, what exactly was it that you needed to talk about?”Yuri began lightly, as lightly for him as he could from where Victor nodded next to him, both staring at Yuuri expecting the man to announce something small.

It was Victor that they needed to watch out for. He was the one that always made the _off the wall_ decisions.

Yuuri fiddled with his drink before taking a deep breath.

“I’ve been accepted to the school I applied to, UofM.”

Victor’s eyes lit up once more in genuine happiness.

“Yuuri, I’m so proud of you!”

“UofM? Is this some weird Japanese way of school names?” Yuri quirked a brow.

“It’s in America. In Michigan.” Yuuri replied, squeezing Victor’s hand.

“I got in around May…”

Victor’s smile dropped just a fraction as his brows furrowed.

“Yuuri, darling, it’s nearly August…”

“I know, I just… With everything that’s been happening I didn’t know when to tell you so I figured I need to tell you now.”

Victor squeezed his hand back, waiting to hear him out.

“With Yakov retiring and you coaching Yuri and yourself I figured I could sit out a season.” he put up a hand to stop the two from jumping into his explanation.

“But I’ve been doing some classes online here and there when I could and I just need a year to finish my masters. I have no intention of retiring just yet, but I do want to be able to say I finish.…”

Yuri was staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

Who would _willingly_ drop a season of skating to go back to _school_ of all places…???

He was _mental_ that was for sure..

“So I applied to UofM and I got in and I even got some scholarships, all academic. I’ve found a place off campus to stay, and I wouldn’t really need a car but I could get my international license back..”

“You’re really sitting out for a whole year?” Victor asked solemly.

“Well… Not entirely…”

“There’s a rink near UofM that I could practice at, and Ciao Ciao mentioned that he had a coaching friend who was free for a season… I figured I could compete in a few competitions. Maybe Four Continents and Worlds if I was feeling super overachieving.”

“Who’s the coach?” Yuri asked taking a sip from his drink.

“Umm.. I actually don’t know yet.”

“You don’t know the name of the person who’s supposed to coach you?” Victor replied questioningly.

“I haven’t gotten that far!”

Neither Russian said a word as Yuuri tried to get his flustered emotions under control.

“The point is” Yuuri started, fiddling once more with his cup.

“I have to arrive by early the third week of August, so I’m trying to get things settled in by then.”

“Settled in?” Victor and Yuri asked in unison.

“Yuri, I think you should move in for the remainder of this season.”

The blonde choked on air as he pulled leveled Yuuri with his most derisive glare.

“Why in the world would I do that? I have my own place.”

“I’m not telling you to fully move in, just maybe during the week when you guys are practicing. And then you can go back to your place on the weekends. You used to carpool with Yakov, remember. And even if you are taking the public transportation, it’s still a bit of a distance.” Yuuri continued.

“And since you both would practicing at the same time, it would work out.” he shrugged.

“I just don’t like the idea of either of you being alone for the whole season.”

He narrowed his eyes

“And pets don’t count because they can’t yell at you when you haven’t eaten for hours.” he leveled his disapproving glare at Victor who took another small bite out of his half finished pizza.

“It is a good idea…” Victor eventually nodded, glancing warily over at Yuri who seemed to be contemplating it in his own angry way.

“You’re over all the time anyway, Yuri. The guest room is basically your room. You know that.” Yuuri prodded.

It took a few more moments of silent contemplation before Yuri relented with an eye roll.

“Fine, but I’ll move in the week after you leave. I don’t want to be there for all of that sappiness.”

Victor chuckled before taking a sip of his soda, wincing slightly.

“This is so unhealthy... “

“This is what happens when you skip your nutritionist approved meals.” Yuuri threw his crust at the man who dodged, laughing all the while.

“It’s not my fault! I forget sometimes!” he whined.

“Yuri, does he really _‘forget’_?”

“Yura, choose your next words carefully.” Victor replied in mock seriousness.

The blonde chuckled in faux irritation before standing to take the trays to the trash.

“I’ll let you two love birds work that out on your own.”

He stopped by the bathroom on the way back to give them some extra time.

Sometimes they could be _really_ extra.

Or more specifically, Victor could be very _very_ extra.

But he was pleasantly surprised to find that they were not attached face to face when he returned, scrolling through photos on Victor’s phone instead.

“It’s a decent size school, I’d say.” he caught before seeing photos of nice architecture.

“They have a school rink, but I decided I didn’t want to draw attention.”

“You, Katsuki Yuuri world ranked skater didn’t want to draw attention so you just applied to university?” Yuri quirked a brow, sarcasm evident in his tone.

“Aren’t you supposed to list your awards and achievements as well? How did that go?” he pressed further.

“I didn’t list any of them.”

Victor choked on the soda he was subconsciously sipping on, leaving Plisetsky to hitting him unhelpfully on the back.

“You didn’t list your awards?” He managed to choke out between coughs.

“I listed a few of the community service awards I received from the rink. And the award during the goodwill clinic. Some from Japan. Maybe six altogether?”

“Grand Prix?” Victor edged closer.

“No.”

“Four Continents? World Champs? The _Olympics??!_ ” he continued in disbelief.

“Rostelcome?” Yuri added in equal disbelief.

“Not even the domestic ones? The little ones?”

“I didn’t add a single skating award.” Yuuri shook his head.

“I didn’t want anyone to be able to use that against me, just in case, which shouldn’t happen because I’m keeping this _on the down low._ ” he hissed at the two, staring between the two with a scary amount of seriousness.

“I’m going to for an academic year and get my masters and come back.” he nodded to himself.

“Not even the qualifiers?” Victor added after a beat of silence.     

“As far as anyone else is concerned, I got in with scholarships purely through my academic GPA and service.”

“So how exactly are you going to skate?” Yuri asked, still looking perplexed.

“I’ll be competing independently apart from the school. So there shouldn’t be any connections made.”

“Your husband is _insane.”_ Yuri told Victor in a matter-of-factly tone.

Victor let it slide, still trying to wrap his head around Yuuri’s crazy idea.

* * *

  


“Can I come visit?” He asked eventually, when they finally got to go to bed, snuggled warmly against each other after the rollercoaster of a day.

“We’ll see.” was the answer he received and with that the conversation was over.


	3. Chapter 3

The day of Yuuri’s departure came far too quickly and it hit Victor  _ hard.  _

Hard enough to cancel two days of practice, which Yuri  _ very  _ graciously let slide. 

He wasn’t about to try and handle Victor in his mopey mood. He’d just go and have a conditioning day with the other skaters instead. Leave Nikiforov to his coping mechanisms. 

But he knew that it was going to be hard for the silver haired skater. He’d be a fool to say that he didn’t see how in love the two were. It was endearing and low key gross all at the same time. 

But Katsuki kept things pg when he was around and for that he was thankful, and just a little sad to see the man go. 

For a whole  _ year. _ How would he cope…?

He didn’t accompany Victor to the airport at three in the morning, a purposeful move apparently made by Katsuki to lower the amount of eyes that could potentially be watching, or filming, or both. 

He wanted a quiet absence, and both Russians respected that. 

Privacy was hard to come by once you reached a certain level of popularity. In their case, both Nikiforov and Katsuki’s popularity skyrocketed after the marriage only to remain at a constant high with the social media presence both of them had, along with friends in the skating circles. Chulanont and Giacometti were a big part of their social media, being the two who frequently posted the most candids whenever they could. The fact that Victor and Yuuri frequently posted photos of Yuri in their joint outings only helped in boosting their popularity. 

Yuri’s Angels continued to terrify…

But all in all, social media did play a large part in their lives, regardless of whether they liked it or not. Which was why Yuuri had book the earliest possible flight he could.

Not first class either, as Victor quickly found out and fixed. 

Yakov had even called to give a short encouragement, something that Yuuri teary eyed for a good moment before having to say goodbye to Victor which had them both in tears. But the time had come and he had been ushered past the gate check, where he turned to see Victor waving him off, and into the first class lounge. 

The next fourteen or so hours passed by quickly and he landed around 10 in the morning to a sunny day in Michigan. He called Victor when the landed, assuring the man that everything was alright and that he had made it safely into the US and that he was going to head over to his new flat before asked the man whether he had eaten dinner which he said he had. Plisetsky vouched for him, which brought a small smile to his face. He said his goodbyes before going to get his luggage. 

The international student pick up he had arranged was right on time and he was headed to his new flat within the hour, passing through minimal traffic to get there. 

It was familiar but foreign at the same time. 

He took a photo of the rink as they happened to pass it and sent it to Phichit with a smiley face. 

And for a moment, everything was going to be okay.

* * *

 

three weeks into school in found Yuuri freaking out. 

Everything was  _ not  _ okay.

He had awoken to several missed calls from Phichit followed by three back to back messages from Yuri asking if he was alright only to be topped off by a single solitary call from Victor followed by a message saying;  _ Don’t worry, love. I’m handling it.  _

He didn’t know what to feel, but he did know that he was probably going to go straight into a panic attack  _ very  _ soon if Victor didn’t pick up,

“Yuuri! Good morning!” 

“Victor… What happened?” he began, followed by a more subdued, “Good morning, I miss you” .

“Well…” he heard movement in the background followed by a “Is that katsudon?! He’s alive!?” 

Which only set him off all the more.

“Victor.” he took a deep breath. 

“ _ What happpened _ ?” he bit out. 

“Have you…” Victor sucked in a breath. 

“Have you checked your social media recently by any chance? Particularly within the last few hours?” 

It was roundabout and Yuuri didn’t like it one bit. 

“No?” 

“You should definitely check your instagram.” he winced. 

Yuri put the call on speaker before clicking on the app. 

And then he closed his eyes, wishing he had taken a few moments before doing so. 

He had  _ so.many.notifications. _

And they were all from people he was friends with. From people within the skating community. 

And he was tagged in so many posts as well. Many of them, again, from friends. 

Close friends. Friends of his and Victor. Hell, some of the junior skaters were here tagging him as well.

He clicked just to make the numbers disappear. 

And then it occurred to him. 

This was his  _ private _ account. 

“Victor, what happened?” he took a few steadying breaths. 

“Someone noticed your absence from the rink…” Victor started evenly. 

“And they posted about it.” Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, falling back into bed, huddling under the covers. 

“Someone else posted that they saw you at the airport the day you left. They had a shaky photo of us hugging and crying.” Victor didn’t sound too pleased. 

“Did they post it?” Yuuri asked. 

“They did.” Victor replied disapprovingly. 

“It got taken down but people saw it. So they know you were headed to Michigan.”

“Do they know I’m  _ here _ ?” Yuuri whispered. 

“Not as far as we know.”

He couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief. Not yet.

“So they know I’m not in Russia. Why is Phichit and Christophe and everyone else so mad?” 

Victor coughed awkwardly 

“Well.. Yuuri, darling… Umm. A few people have come up with the theory that we  _ mayhavegottenadivorce _ .” he rushed with another cough.

Yuuri layed there stunned, not knowing whether or not to laugh at the utter  _ absurdity  _ of the entire situation.

“Say that again. Slower. They  _ what?”  _

Victor sighed. 

“There are people who think we may have gotten a divorce, which is why you left and I’m still here. There have been some…  _ nasty  _ comments and Chulanont and Giacometti along with many of our friends have decided to  _ personally  _ take up arms.”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“But not to worry, love. No one knows that you’re in school. We’ve all been very careful.” 

Yuuri felt the tension leave his shoulders. 

“I have an amazing husband. And friends. Honestly.” he couldn’t help the sudden happy tears. 

“I miss you.” Victor responded. 

“It’s been three weeks already! I don’t know how I’m supposed to make it to the end of this year!” he wailed dramatically. 

“You have a lot on your plate. You should be  _ practicing!  _ “ Yuuri admonished lightly. 

“I do practice! But I can’t focus when you’re so far away!” 

“You better not let Yuri hear that. He deserves a coach who’s 100% focused.”

“That’s right!” he heard Yuri shout from the back, which caused him to laugh once more. 

“Don’t let him slack off, Yuri!” he answered back before getting up. 

“I’ve got to go. McCabe is probably at the rink already. I should have left like half an hour ago.” he rushed around, changing into his practice wear. 

“I love you, don’t work too hard!” Victor replied before hanging up, leaving Yuuri to promptly trip over his shoes. 

* * *

 

He wasn’t sure what it was, but the moment he entered his 9:45 lecture he could feel something  _ off  _ about the situation. 

It wasn’t until he sat down at his normal seat that he realize what it was. 

Up on the screen the professor had posted names of groups, which was the reason for everyone sitting in bunches. 

He looked around before someone waved to him. 

“You’re in group six, right?” the blonde called out. 

Yuuri nodded before moving down the isle. 

“You must be, Yu- Yuuri?” the blonde held out his hand. 

“My name is Andrew. Andrew Porter.” Yuuri shook his hand with a smile. 

“So, Zolof should be here soon, but the other three aren’t going to be in class today. Two of them had to cover a shift last minute and one of them is away with the skating team competition.” he didn’t see Yuuri’s eyes widen before turning back to the screen to read the names once more, hoping against all hope that he’d be able to know whether the skater was a girl or a boy. 

But of course, the group had been mixed. 

“Do you know all of them?” He asked, hoping to figure out soon. 

“Umm.. Well, there’s Zolof coming in now.” He waved over a handsome African American guy with a clean cut. 

“Darius. This is Yuuri. He’s a part of our research paper group.” 

Darius held out a hand. 

“Nice to meet you” he said with a smile. 

“So Stephanie and Melissa couldn’t make it today, huh?” 

“Their bosses are  _ the worst. _ ” Andrew replied with an eye roll.

Yuuri could feel his gut fall as he realized the last name on the group was probably the skater. 

_ Isaac Welton. _

A male figure skater.

“So Isaac Welton is a skater?” Yuuri asked, twiddling with his phone. 

“Yup. He skates singles for the school’s skate team.”

“Did you see him yesterday though?” Andrew replied. 

“Yesterday night? When he downed a whole half a bottle of tequila?” Darius asked. 

“Yeah.” 

“And then  _ sobbed  _ about how Victor Nifikorov or whatnot was getting a divorce and how he was going to delete his entire fan account if that was true?” 

Yuuri froze. 

This was  _ not  _ looking good.

“His coach was  _ pissed  _ this morning. I had to shove him into the showers full clothes with cold water to get him ready. I’m surprised he didn’t forget anything.” the two laughed, not noticing Yuuri’s look of extreme discomfort. 

He had a moment to compose himself before Andrew turned to face him, smile still evident. 

“You’ll get to meet him tomorrow. I have a study room booked for three to five, if that’s okay.” 

Yuuri nodded, smiling. 

“Sounds good.” 

“We’ll go over the topic and the basic outline tomorrow. But could I have your number and email? I don’t think we’ve ever talked.” 

Yuuri startled, nodding. 

“I’m an older student so I tend to just keep to myself.” he admitted with a small blush.

“Older? Like 21? Cause you barely look over 21 my man.” Andrew scoffed. 

Darius nodded. 

“I’ll be turning 26 this year.” 

The two choked. 

“No way.” 

“You don’t look a day over 22 at _ most _ .” 

He chuckled. 

“Thank you, I think.” 

The conversation melted into safer topics like how they had a feeling that the professor wouldn’t mind if they just skipped out on the lecture to grab some lunch at the new ramen place that just opened up around the corner. 

Which was how the two found out about Yuuri’s international student status.

“So you’re from Japan?”

“Technically yes, but I hold a Russian citizenship now.” 

“You live in Russia?” 

Yuuri nodded. 

“I just had a mostly free year and decided I wanted to finish up my degree.” he shrugged. 

“Cool.” and that was that for the conversation about his odd citizenship, which he internally was grateful for. 

They went their separate ways after lunch, promising to text more information about the meeting tomorrow. 

Yuuri bid them farewell before making it back to his flat, drawing a hot bath before letting his mind crash with the information that his secret might very well be figured out tomorrow at 3 from sheer dumb luck. 

He passed mind numbing disbelief rather quickly as he sunk into the hot water, letting it work its magic on his sore muscles. 

Practice had been going well. 

McCabe was gracious enough to let Yuuri have practice from three to five which ensured the fact that no one else would be near the rink at that time. He could practice in peace, sometimes up till six with the doors locked because the rink  _ technically  _ opened at seven. Most serious skaters skated at the university rink which was closer and opened earlier which worked out for all parties involved. 

They had set the theme for his season as insanity. Something he was iffy about until his coach had informed him that no one in their right mind would try pulling what he was trying to pull. Which in all honesty was fair.

Ideas began to bloom in his head as he began to accept the theme. 

Maybe he could try to add combinations of his weakest jumps and spins. That would  _ certainly  _ be insane. 

Victor would tell him so as well. 

No skater in their right mind would put pack in only moves they were shaky on into their programs. Especially when they’ve reached such a point of records. 

And after the last Olympics where he had medalled gold, his fans would certainly be concerned. 

But that wasn’t the main issue at hand. 

The main issue at hand was that he wasn’t even a full month in and his plan was about to crash and burn. 

He hesitated before calling Victor, who he doubted would be asleep at the current hour. 

It rang twice before Victor picked up.

“Yuuri?” 

“Oh, Victor. Were you asleep?” his heart sank at Victor’s tired voice. 

“No no, I’m still at the rink, actually.” 

“Victor!” 

“Ludig asked me to come in and give the junior team some feedback before they leave for their competition tomorrow!” he could practically see Victor’s eyes widen as he tried to explain Yuuri’s worry away.

“You didn’t skate?” 

“No, not really.” 

“Okay good. I bet you’ve been at the rink all day. Aren’t you tired?” 

Victor chuckled. 

“It was actually really fun to watch them skate. Reminded me a little of when I was younger.” 

“A little?” 

“Yakov was definitely stricter. That and I got away with more than I should have.” 

Yuuri laughed along with Victor.

“Yuri and I are coming in mid day tomorrow since they’ve got a little maintenance work to do on the rink. So I’ll be able to sleep in.” 

Yuuri hummed. “Good. You need to sleep, Victor. Can’t keep running yourself into the ice.” 

Victor chuckled. 

“Of course, love. But enough about me. How are you? How was school today?” 

There was a beat of silence 

“Yuuri, sweetheart, did something happen today?” 

And out of nowhere, Yuuri could feel the weight of today crashing down on him as the floodgates began to open. 

“Victor. I think I might get outed tomorrow.” 

He held in the tears as best as he could to try to explain. 

“My professor set the groups for our first group project and one of them is a skater. He’s a  _ figure skater,  _ Victor.” 

He heard Victor’s wince on the other end. 

“They’re all friends too. Apparently this guy chugged half a bottle of tequila because he heard about the rumor that we were getting a divorce.” he managed a hiccuped laugh. 

“Half a bottle of  _ tequila  _ Victor. He wasn’t in class today because of a competition, but we’re all meeting tomorrow at the library for a study group and he’ll be there. “

“It’s going to be alright, Yuuri. This is  _ one  _ college student who happens to skate. I’m sure he’ll be able to mind his own business.” 

“But what if he doesn’t. Oh my god, Victor. What if the entire skating team figures out about it?!” His breaths started catching. 

“Shhhh, shh love. Yuuri, I need you to breathe. Victor guided him gently. 

“You’re over thinking this. And even if it does happen, You’re Katsuki Yuuri, consecutive world champion. You can handle a little college pr. And if need be, I can always come get you.”

Yuuri nodded to himself. 

Victor was right. 

This wasn’t life and death, and even if people found out, he had earned his place here. The fact that he had won an olympic gold didn’t matter because he had the academic gpa to back himself up.

That and the fact that it would allow him to set the social media world straight in terms of their little gossip/rumor mill about his and Victor’s relationship. 

But most importantly, he knew Victor wasn’t joking when he said he would come get him if need be. 

He had no doubt in his mind that the man would jump on a flight over here mid season just to accompany him back.

The thought of it eased his breathing. 

“Good. good. I know it’s stressful, but I’m here for you, love. Don’t forget that.” 

Yuuri murmured an affirmative. 

“Thank you, Victor. I needed that.” 

He could just imagine Victor’s warm smile. 

“But I should let you go. You need to get home.”

He heard the sound of a bag being zipped. 

“I’ll call you back tomorrow.” 

“Sounds good. I love you.” 

“I love you too.”


	4. Chapter 4

It just happened that the rink was shut down for renovations. And by _shut down_ for _renovations_ McCabe meant that Yuuri had an entire day on the ice to himself because he’d worked his magic and kept the rink closed for the day, letting Yuuri have free reign.

He got so excited that he cleared his whole schedule.

It was by dumb luck that he forgot to silence his phone, bringing him out of his concentration mid landing as it blared through the empty rink around 2.

He skated over, unsure as to who it could possibly be calling him.

While he had kept all of his social media, he had to get a new number for his stay here, and there weren’t too many people who knew this number.

Less than ten, to be honest…

“Hello?”

“Hey! Is this Yuuri? I’m Andrew from lecture.”

He managed to suppress the surprise as he responded, holding on to the rink wall.

“Oh yeah, hi! This is Yuuri.”

“Good, good! I just wanted to remind you about the study/meeting session we’re going to have at 3 today.”

He almost faltered, catching himself last minute.

“Oh yeah.”

“Yeah. Um, so the room’s booked from 3-5 but I don’t think everyone’s gonna make it in till 3:20 ish. I just wanted to let you know. I’ll probably be there but if you wanted to come a little later or a little earlier is totally up to you.”

Yuuri internally cursed.

The excitement of the hours of free skate time had _completely_ wiped his mind of the meeting.

“Oh, thanks for the heads up!”

“No problem. See you soon.”

And with that he was left scrambling to get off the ice. He’d have to shower here and take his things with him at this rate... “ He didn’t even have his backpack!

He cursed before shoving his guards on, wobbling over to where he had his _thankfully_ small skate bag.

McCabe looked up from the emails he had been sending.

“You alright?” he asked, brows furrowing at Yuuri’s slightly panic.

“I’ve got to go!” Yuuri shoved his skates in his bag and riffled through before breathing a sigh of relief.

“The showers here work, right?”

“Yeah, but there probably won’t be any hot water.”

“That’s fine.” Yuuri sprinted off to the locker room, bag in hand.

 

“Woah, woah. Are you okay, Yuuri?” McCabe had the semblance of mind to ask when he rushed out in joggers and a long sleeve  that looked three sizes too big on him. He had a black cap in his hands and his skate bag on his shoulders typing away furiously.

“I completely forgot I have a meeting at 3.”

He tucked his shirt in to try to fix the baggage.

“An academic meeting. I don’t even have my backpack, McCabe. This is horrible.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand. You’ve been at the rink all day.”

Yuuri looked back down at his phone, looking _far_ too sheepish for McCabe’s preference.

“They do know what you’ve been doing, right?”

“Umm...no.”

“Yuuri. I’m sure they’ll understand if you just tell them. Balancing academics and sports is a hard thing to do.”

“Well actually… I was hoping to keep it on the down low.”

McCabe crossed his arms defensively across his chest, eyes narrowing as he leveled Yuuri with a look of disbelief.

“And what would “on the down low” consist of?”

“Ummm… As of now.”

He nodded, gesturing for the skater to continue.

“You, me, Victor, and Plisetsky are really technically the only ones who know I’m skating.”

Yuuri fiddled with his cap.

“Well, give or take a few close skate friends.”

“So everyone else?”

“I’ve just gone off the radar for a little bit to everyone else…”

“Do they know you’re at school?”

“No…??”

“Is that a question or an answer, Yuuri?” McCabe threw his hands up in exasperation.

“You’re keeping your academics a secret but also, _no one_ knows you’re skating?”

Yuuri nodded sheepishly.

“Good _god._ I thought they knew I just thought you wanted to practice at 3 to avoid your fans.

“Well, technically I do! I just don’t want to be noticed at all.”

“And three weeks in you’ve not been noticed by _anyone_ ? _”_

“Surprisingly, yes. But I think I’m about to be outed today, actually. At my meeting.”

“How do you know that?”

“There’s a kid who skates for the school.”

“Ah… “ McCabe nodded.

“Do you need a ride over?”

Yuuri nodded.

“You would be a _life saver_ actually.”

“I’m sure it’s the least I can do for you today, if you’re going to meet a fan today.

Yuuri winced.

“He’s super upset as well.”

“About?”

“Apparently there’s this thing on insta-”

“Oh, the news that you and Nikiforov are getting a divorce?”

“We aren’t! It’s just, I’ve been _so_ off radar that people are starting to make conspiracy theories!” Yuuri wailed as they left through the back door.

He hopped in the car, hugging his skate bag.

And within minutes they were speeding towards the library.

 

“Good luck!” McCabe waved him off at the parking lot, letting him pull his baseball cap over his head before driving off, leaving Yuuri looking like a true college student in his baggy shirt and joggers with his skate bag hanging off of his shoulder as he made his way inside.

He swiped into the meeting room to find it Andrew and Darius smushed up against a student who could only be

_Isaac._

Yuuri took a breath.

Priding himself on not having let out any sort of shout.

“Yuuri! You’re here. My man, you’re early too.” he looked up from the computer screen he’d been staring at.

Darius look up with a smile as well, and within moments Isaac had hit pause before looking up and freezing.

Yuuri winced internally.

Here it comes…

“Hi, sorry. I _completely_ forgot about the meeting today, to be honest. He took a seat across from Isaac who ducked his head, fingers typing furiously against his phone.

Darius shrugged.

“Not a problem. You look comfy.”

Yuuri chuckled.

“Didn’t pack an extra shirt.” he shrugged.

“You must be Isaac?” he waved.

And within moments he was leaning forward, eyes wide as the boy choked on air, grasping on to Andrew’s arm, shaking it in attempt to convey some sort of message.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Yuuri winced.

If he was going to be outed, it was going to be on his terms. Let the boy be surprised…

“Y-You’re-you” he was hyperventilating.

“Hey, hey. Breathe. Come on.” Yuuri made his way around the meeting table to grab on to Isaac’s shoulders which in hindsight was probably not the best idea.

He froze, eyes wide before turning to Darius.

“This is some weird fucking side effects from that kombucha Melissa gave me today, isn’t it?”

Yuuri couldn’t help but try and hide the chuckle.

“No man. But you do kinda look like you took something you shouldn’t have…” Darius answered.

“No, cause there is _no way_ that what I’m seeing is real.”

“What you seeing, man?” Andrew asked, quirking a brow.

“I-he-he’s Yuuri Katsuki.”

“Um.. Yeah… He is?” Darius looked at Yuuri who blushed

“Um. No. First of all, Yuuri Katsuki should be in Russia.” Isaac turned back to face Yuuri.

“Wait.” he gasped.

“Wait. NO! You’re really Yuuri Katsuki?!”

“Hi.” Yuuri nodded with a small wave.

“ARE THE RUMORS _TRUE?!”_ Isaac latched onto Yuuri’s arm before realizing what he was doing and jumped off.

“Which ones?”

“Are you guys really getting a divorce?!”

Yuuri burst into a fit of laughter.

“ _Definitely_ not. Victor and I are very happy, thank you.”

Isaac looked like he was going to cry as he brought his phone up.

Yuuri caught him with surprising speed, latching onto his arm with a considerable grip.

“But that, along with our little meeting today remains a _secret_ Welton.” He did his best to channel his inner Victor.

The boy looked like he was going to pass out, partly in fear and partly due to the fact that Yuuri _Katsuki_ knew his name.

“W-wha?”

“I think we need to have a little group chat before we start.” Yuuri waved the two girls in, much to the surprise of the two who had been lingering outside.

He bolted the door and drew the blinds.

“Alright you guys. I think new introductions are in order.” he took his cap off, shaking his hair out.

Everyone took a seat, staring in confusion

Apart from Isaac who still looked in between passing out and being terrified.

“From what you may have gathered, my name is Katsuki Yuuri.”

“Wait, like Katsuki from when you drank half the bottle of tequila, Katsuki?” Darius asked Isaac who grabbed on to Darius’s arm in affirmation, refusing to let it go.

“You’re a skater?” Andrew asked.

“Yup.”

“For the school?” Stephanie piped in.

“Um, no. Definitely not.”

“I’m so confused….” Melissa added in, looking between Isaac and Yuuri.

“So you do skate but you don’t skate for the school. Then how do you know Isaac?”

“I actually just met him today” Yuuri answered with a smile.

“So you know him” Melissa nodded to Yuuri, looking back at Isaac.

“But he doesn’t know you? Is he some weird crush or something? Wait, was he at that party last week?”

Isaac jumped in embarrassment.

“Me _lissa!_ Not cool.” he whined.

“If I’m understanding things correctly”, Andrew typed in a few things on his computer before turning it around to face the group.  

“He’s Katsuki Yuuri, Olympic gold medalist and consecutive world champion?” he read off what appeared on google.

Yuuri blushed.

“Which is why this is _insane.”_ Isaac jumped in.

The group took a moment of silence, digesting what they were hearing.

“So you’re an Olympian?” Melissa broke the silence.

“Once.” Yuuri replied.

“You won gold.” she replied bluntly.

Yuuri shrugged.

“I mean.. Victor decided not to compete in it that year… and-”

“Dude. You’re an Olympic gold medalist. Why are you still in school?” she repeated her point.

“Oh. Um.. Well, I was already so close to getting my degree so I figured I should just go for it.”

“I swear... some people just have it all..” Stephanie broke into a fit of laughter.

Melissa looked far more than a little bemused, looking through the wikipedia page.

“You’re a consecutive figure skating world championship medalist along with four continents _and_ the ISU grand prix…” she looked up in shock.

“Is this really you?” she’d managed to open a video of him landing his quad jump sequence.

He chuckled, a little self consciously.

“Yes, but this year I’m here for school.”

“Is it the financial aspect? I mean, do professional skaters need back up jobs?” she asked in complete confusion, clicking on his information.

“Okay, but you’re also married to Mr. Perfect? So….why are you here again?”

Yuuri quirked a bemused brow.

“My degree?”

“Who needs a degree when you’re married to this?” she’d brought up Victor’s page.

“I won’t lie, he is perfect, isn’t he?” Yuuri indulged with a small smile.

“You two are literally power couple goals.” Isaac fangirled.

“Which is _why_ everything you heard today in this room remains a secret.” Yuuri cut the shenanigans.

Everyone turned, suitably pacified.

“Victor is working on his program right now. If it were to break that I am here, people would go crazy and he’d have to come over. And I _assure_ you, if _anyone_ disrupts Vitya’s practice before the next competition, I’ll _personally_ stomp them with my skates.” he said it while looking directly at Isaac who gulped.

“I’m just trying to get my degree, and then I’ll be back in Russia and everything will be back to normal.” he nodded.

“So I’ll give you this meeting, and once we leave this room, we’re going to pretend nothing happened.”

There was a beat of silence before Isaac raised a hand.

“Yes?”

“Could you tell me what I’m doing wrong?” he pushed the computer towards Yuuri who froze a moment before nodded.

“Okay.”

This, this he could do.

 

* * *

 

They’d hooked up the computer to the big screen up from and had watched the short program together with the lights off.

It was enjoyable, kinda reminded him of back home when he and Victor and Yuri would watch post competition videos.

“Nicely done.” he remarked after the Isaac landed a clean double axel.

“You see when you go into your toe loop” he hit pause before going back a few seconds.

“You’re not entirely stable and that’s going to cause you to go into an unstable toe loop.” he hit play to watch the preparation.

“See, you’re ready to jump but half your shoulder is pushed the other way. You’re going to under-rotate this one.”

Isaac’s eyes widened as Yuuri pressed play, revealing what he had just said.

He had under-rotated, badly at that trying for a quad.

He had managed to grab himself so he didn’t fully fall but it was bad nonetheless.

“How are your quads in general?” Yuuri stopped the video again.

“Umm… I can do a quad Toe, but everything else is shaky.”

“Like, do as in, in practice or do like you could fully compete with it?”

The boy looked torn

“I can land them in practice, but I’m always kind of shaky in competition. But my coach wants me to put it in anyway.”

Yuuri narrowed his eyes.

“Hmm… That’s not good. You’re going to hurt yourself, Isaac.” He turned in his swivel chair.

“Are you the only one who’s able to do quads?”

“Not really. A few of us can,  but we’re all still a little shaky.”

He considered a moment, really fighting an internal battle before speaking.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

Isaac spluttered.

“Uh-um, yeah. We don’t have practice on Wednesdays.”

“Good. I want you to meet me at the public rink at 4.”

“4PM?”

“Oh god no. 4 AM. I want to see your triples. And also your quad. You’ve got potential.”

The boy looked like he was about to have an aneurism.

“This is a _secret_ Welton. I better not see anyone else.”

“Yes. Yes! Of course!” he spluttered.

“Good.” Yuuri pressed play again, watching intently as Isaac glided across the ice.

In many ways he reminded Yuuri of Leo. Great across the board with that extra grace. He could really see the possibility of growth with this one.

He pressed stop milliseconds before he went in for a flip.

“You were distracted.”

“How did you even see that?” Darius muttered in disbelief.

“I help with the junior skaters occasionally. You start picking things up” he waved away the incredulity.

“But anyway, you were distracted. Why?”

“Umm.. Our coach is kinda loud. He coaches the beginners hockey as well-”

“ _Excuse_ me? He what?” Yuuri looked downright indignant.

“Well, the figure skating team is technically considered a club sport and we didn’t really have enough to get a coach coach so we share a coach with the hockey team but apparently he was a figure skater too and-”

Yuuri brought up a hand.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes….”

He couldn’t help the vexed laugh that popped out.

This _could not_ be real.

“But you guys compete and everything?”

“Yeah. We’re pretty decently ranked too. Just with all of the construction being done on campus, the sports teams really took a hit, I mean, we’re technically a research school. Not a sports one…”

Yuuri took a few deep breaths before nodding.

“So that was your coach?”

Isaac nodded sheepishly.

“You fell on this one, didn’t you?”

“Literally, how?” Melissa threw her hands up in disbelief.

“Look, Yuuri stood, getting into position.

“See his head is completely to the side?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s going to mess with the aerodynamics. Not to mention the fact that his right shoulder went up to accommodate. And if you look at his skates, he’s facing too close to the wrong way.”

“Dude…” Andrew let out an impressed whistle, watching and then wincing once Isaac went into the air, landed and promptly ate ice before getting back up.

“Good recovery time though.” he gave him a thumbs up before focusing on the screen again.

“You didn’t really get to get your entire step sequence down before you competed, did you?” Yuuri tried to hide the smile.

“Was it that obvious?” Isaac asked grimacing.

“You hid it pretty well, but that step sequence isn’t original. I’m surprised you managed to hide it so blatantly.”

“Oh… _Oh._ Oh my god…” he buried his face in his hands in embarrassment.

Darius took the computer back, rewinding to watch the sequence again.

“I mean, he kinda falls that one time but…? Is this some weird figure skating thing?”

“Kind of.” Yuuri chuckled before pulling up his Grand Prix program.

He fast forwarded until it was mid program where he knew the camera would pan to his skates to view his step sequence.

Victor had been _relentless._

“He added a few extra steps, but it’s my step sequence from the Grand Prix final.”

He clicked play and Eros burst out from the speakers.

Everyone watched transfixed until he paused and turned back to Isaac’s video where he was following, albeit slowly, along his steps.

“Woah” Melissa laughed.

“You’ve slowed it down by at least half, Isaac. And how did your coach okay this?”

“To be fair, it’s a hard step sequence. I worked on it for at least a month _every day_ with Victor breathing down my neck…”

“But yeah, if you’re using this short program again, I’d definitely work on the step sequence. I want to see that tomorrow as well.”

He added casually before hitting play again.

The remainder of the program went off without a hitch before he went into a sit spin with a little bit of a travel.

Isaac was ready before Yuuri even hit pause.

“I’m working on them, I swear!”

Yuuri nodded before pressing play again, clapping as he music came to an end and Isaac stepped into his ending pose.

“Over all, it was good!”

Stephanie and Andrew sat laughing at their little whispered conversation.

“Does this happen a lot?” Darius asked.

“What does?”

“When you go through your program.”

“Oh yeah!” Yuuri laughed.

“When Victor was my coach, we could spend upward to an hour just critiquing. We also have millisecond play-by-play too. So we watch it through a whole bunch. It’s just a part of recognizing where you’ve got to get better.”

He looked on in slight disbelief.

“But don’t feel discouraged, Isaac! It wasn’t horrible!”  that just caused Andrew and Stephanie to laugh all the harder.

“I know, the first time it happens it’s horrible and you just want to die. I feel you. The first time Victor critiqued my work I almost cried cause he spent a whole hour just telling me how horrible my jumps were.”

“Oh…” Isaac looked properly horrified.

“But he knew what I had to fix and once I fixed them I got so much better. That’s one of the big reasons I did so well at the Olympics. Just relentless training and critiquing.”

The nodded looking beyond their level.

“But I’m saying this out of actual interest, Isaac. You’ve got so much potential. I’d hate for you to keep making the same mistakes.”

That brought a small smile on the kid’s face.

Yuuri nodded before checking his phone.

“ _Oh._ I’m so sorry you guys. It’s already five, and I’ve got to go. I know we didn’t get anything done today, but I’ve got a rough outline down if you guys want to take a look. I’ll share it with you all.” Yuuri grabbed his skate bag before putting his cap back on.

“Tomorrow. Four A.M. Text me when you’re at the front.” Yuuri pointed to Isaac before making his exit, leaving five stunned college students in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, guys.  
> You guys are gonna get to see coach Yuuri REAL soon!  
> Also  
> just in case it wasn't obvious.  
> Yuuri hates the school's skate coach. Like A LOT


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double post  
> but I HAD to!

“Not bad. Not bad at all…” McCabe gazed out at where Isaac landed yet another solid triple toe loop followed by another tripe toe.

“He’s got the grace as well. Kind of reminds me of Leo de la Iglesia.”

McCabe hummed in agreement.

“But he doesn’t have any of his quads down?”

“He said he can land quad toe loops in practice but he’s shaky in competition. I saw him go for one just cause his coach forced him to put one in.”

“Did he land it?”

“Definitely not. It was bad. He almost hurt himself as well..” McCabe caught the look of irritation on Yuuri’s face.

“And what exactly has gotten you feeling all protective over this specific skater, Katsuki?”

“It’s not just him.” Yuuri answered as Isaac continued to travel in his sit spin.

“ _Apparently_ ” he drew out the word, toying with his ring.

“They’ve got a hockey coach masquerading as a figure skating coach.” He answered in obvious disapproval.

McCabe looked thunderstruck.

“He completely missed a flip cause the oaf was yelling off ice. Distracted the skaters.”

“Is that so…”

“And that just seems so… unfair.”

“To who?”

“To them! Especially when there’s someone who could possibly be coaching them. Better than a hockey coach at least.”

“Does he happen to be a student at the school?”

“Possibly…”

“I thought you wanted everything to be on the down low?”

“I do! But- but this is ridiculous, McCabe! A _hockey_ coach?!” McCabe brought his hands up in a sign of agreement.

“I hear you, but at the same time, You can’t honestly expect to try and coach while competing _and_ studying. That’s just ridiculous.”

“I mean… Maybe not _coach_ coach. But at least sit in some of their practices and give them pointers?”

“You’re letting go too fast!” Yuuri called out as Isaac landed roughly, before turning back to McCabe.

“For now, this is just a one off thing. He has another competition next week and…”

“Wait, is this the guy that outed you?”

“Yeah.. He’s in my lecture group. But he’s promised to stay quiet.”

“I see..” McCabe looked back out to where the boy landed once more, much cleaner this time around.

“I feel like he has potential.” Yuuri nodded.

“Maybe the next competition will go better…”

* * *

 

He bid farewell to Isaac at five, waving him off before heading back inside to grab his things.

“Um, Yuuri?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you… Has Nikiforov called you today by any chance?” McCabe looked up from his tablet.

He felt his gut drop.

“No? Why…?”

“I think you need to see this…” He handed the tablet over, still logged in to his own personal instagram account.

It was _obviously_ just a title meant to attract its readers. Nothing more. But the moment Yuuri read the offending title and saw the attached photos and videos at the end he was ready to fly over to Russia himself to stomp a hoe.

Particularly a _very_ French decently popular blonde singer who had apparently decided that the rumors were true and that Victor was officially an eligible bachelor once more. He had even had the absolute _gall_ to @ Yuuri’s personal and skating handles.

The short notice read:

  * _Those meant to be together will find a way. Victor Nikiforov, will you be mine? @KatsukiYuuri @K_Yuuri. Sorry for your loss babe._ With several kissy faces.



The singer had shown up to Victor’s rink in time to find the senior skaters practicing. He’d brought his own news crews along with an obnoxious bouquet of red roses and balloons with a life sized teddy dressed in Victor’s costume from Stammi Vicino. And as far as he could see, Victor already looked tired as it was, eyes narrowing as he came out of a quad to find the rink suddenly full of people who weren’t supposed to be there in the first place.

Yuuri could see the way his mouth drooped into a frown, already done with whatever it was that was about to happen, if the roses and the teddy were anything to go by.

Yuri could be seen in the background staring daggers at the camera people.

But it was Victor who skated straight up to the blonde, aptly named Blonde-Love, face flushing as his jaw clenched.

“Victor! Just the man I-”

“Get out.” It was just barely over a whisper, but it carried nonetheless.

“Sweetheart-” Blonde-love made the mistake of putting his hand on Victor’s shoulder, which was shoved off in seconds by Victor himself.

“I said” he lifted his chin, staring the blonde down with undisguised disgust.

“Get. _Out_.” he growled before moving his disapproving glare on the cameras behind the man.

“All of you. This is a private practice. You have no right to be in here.” his volume increased a notch as raw anger shot through him.

“Mr. Nikiforov, please, he just-” the one holding the bouquet started.

Which was a _huge_ mistake.

Victor aggressively ran a hand through his hair, trying his best to reign in the anger that was beginning to boil.

It had been a tough practice already. Just as altogether bad practice day as it was. _This_ was just the cherry on top.

“He _what_ ? He listen to the frankly _insulting_ rumors that Katsuki Yuuri and I were getting a _divorce_?” he spat the word.

Yuuri swiped to the next video which continued the rant.

“They are _rumors_ and this is _disgusting._ ” he couldn’t help the smile that came on his face.

But things were getting _far_ too out of hand.

So he handed McCabe his tablet back before fishing for his own phone.

“Yuuri. I know that was a lot to take in, but I need you to really think things through. Don’t do anything rash!” McCabe warned.

But Yuuri was _far_ too gone by that point.

He sent off one tweet from his verified account before hesitating, adding a photo from his own personal library before sending the next one off.

And then he took a breath.

“I’m probably going to regret that, but honestly-” he shrugged.

“I don’t really regret it right now.”

He shouldered his bag before walking out confidently back to his flat.

* * *

 

The half hour it took for him to get back was enough to warrant a personal call from Victor himself, along with Phichit and  Christophe to name a few. Not to mention the fact that he had to shut his twitter and instagram alerts off for the time being.

“Victor.”

“Yuuri.”

There was a moment of silence before Victor chuckled.

“I must say, that last tweet was _so_ vicious, babe.”

His laughter was contagious as Yuuri gave in to the laughs.

“I couldn’t sit by while some blonde hag tried to _propose_ to my husband.” he chuckled.

“Did he really come in to the rink?! McCabe showed me the video. You’ve got a _really_ scary angry face, by the way.”

“Good. It was just horrible. And I wasn’t in the mood to be nice.”

“Well, I’m glad you handled it well. I was kind of nervous that you were gonna punch the guy.”

“I really _really_ wanted to, love. Really and truly.”

He laughed.

Mila and Ludig had to pull Yuri off this guy that tried to tug his ponytail. Yuri’s got a _mean_ right hook, by the way.”

“I figured…” Yuuri chuckled as he unlocked his door, stepping in and shutting it quietly behind him.

“But everything else aside, are you going to be okay?”

Yuuri took a deep breath.

“I think so. It was bound to happen. At least the first tweet anyway.”

He flung himself on the couch.

“Victor. They’ve got a hockey coach coaching the figure skating team. Apparently he’s figure skated before?” the derision was more than evident.

“A _hockey_ coach?” Victor sounded taken aback.

“The guy who I said was probably going to out me, I critiqued his program. Apparently the coach _made_ him put a quad in even though he couldn’t jump it. And he distracted him and the poor guy completely fell on his flip. He almost really got hurt. I was _beyond_ done.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very good coach… that sounds almost abusive, honestly…”

“Exactly! I’m going to put my foot down. He said they didn’t have the money to get an actual coach.”

“I see…”

“I mean, I’m not trying to be a coach but I can at least sit in on some of their practices and help, right?”

“I think you’d be a great coach, babe. I’ve seen you with the junior skater.” he talking in the background.

“Wait, it’s lunch time over there, isn’t it?”

“It is. Yuri and I decided to stay in for lunch today. I don’t think I’ll be able to go out for another week or so after that little… problem.”

Yuuri chuckled.

“Alright, well, don’t let me keep you from lunch. Tell Yuri I said hi, and good job on the right hook.”

“Don’t encourage him.”

“Never, babe.” they laughed before saying their farewells.

And then Yuuri was left alone at six in the morning to deal with the international scandal he had probably just caused.

He opened Instagram first just because it had a smaller number than twitter did.

But the moment he opened it, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Phichit had apparently screenshotted his tweet to Blonde-love and was spreading it with glee.  And from what he could see, the international skating community was _loving_ his reply.

It had been a skype photo time stamped from two days ago, Yuuri’s side slightly blurred from the steam, which was more than obvious from the tiling behind him and the rosy hue of his cheeks.

Victor on the other hand was laid out on his couch with Makka spread out on top of him looking more than excited at the mini Yuuri on the screen.

It was cute and _obviously_ domestic with Victor’s frozen but genuine smile.

He’d tagged Blonde-love with the simple message:

- _I get that it’s a trash can not a trash can’t, but no one likes a homewrecker, bitch._

Looking back on it he still couldn’t say that he regretted it in the very least.

Blonde-love hadn’t been able to respond just yet, which was fine with him. He’d be down to cut a bitch whenever. But in all honesty, he was pretty sure that Phichit would probably beat him to it.

Many of his skating friends had shared the photo in some way or another.

Christophe had even gone online just to give Yuuri an in person reaction, which was just _so_ Christophe. He gave a thumbs up with a few hearts thrown in.

And then he went to Twitter, which wasn’t as bad as he expected, but probably because the other side of the world had gotten to react before the States did. It _was_ only six after all.

He had tagged UofM and the skating team before shooting off a:

 

  * __If you needed an actual coach, you could have just asked. Who tf ok-ed this hockey coach nonsense? I’ll personally throw hands on ice.__



 

He’d set his location to the general UofM area instead of the rink just to add the extra touch of sass.

It had been retweeted by _thousands_. Many of them finally piecing things together, at least a little bit more than they had before.

Katsuki Yuuri was in the US, or more specifically, Michigan, near UofM. He was probably near the ice rink if he knew that sort of information. Or he knew the skaters.

Isaac was probably going to actually have an aneurism when he found out, if his reaction to a rumor was to drink a whole half a bottle of tequila…

But what was said was said, and with that, he went to take a shower and get himself ready for the long day ahead.

* * *

 

The moment he walked into lecture he could _feel_ the stares. The stares from his five group mates who weren’t entirely sure as to what to say, but Isaac look like someone had told him that unicorns actually existed.

He looked _way_ too happy.

“Does this mean that you’re out to everyone?” Andrew texted mid lecture.

“I guess? I mean. I have no intention of taking those tweets down.”

“Fair.”

And that was the conversation he got before he was nearly mauled by an overly excited skater.

“Wait, does that mean you’re going to coach? What? What’s happening? I’m so confused!” Isaac had gone into a near melt down.

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh.

“Do you want an answer?”

He quieted down at that.

“I haven’t received any sort of official reply from the school, but it probably won’t be full time coaching. Just sitting in every few practices.”

“Are you skating?”

“Maybe? But that’s between you and me.” he waved it away.

And that successfully concluded the talk about coaching.

* * *

 

It wasn’t until around four in the afternoon when the school responded, obviously surprised at the sudden blunt attack.

They’d responded respectfully that they wanted a meeting with the athletics department as soon as possible.

He’d agreed, telling them he’d meet them at five.

Which was probably not the best idea, to make plans over twitter, but he was still riding the high from putting Blonde-love in his place.

Of _course_ he wasn’t surprised at the small mob that had surrounded the athletics department building when he walked over in slacks and a nice button down suit with a copy of his skating resume in a folder in one hand.

He would make sure there was change, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to skate knowing that there were talented kids unable to really grow due to some higher up’s inability to swallow his pride.

So he walked in to scream of fans with posters, which wasn’t all that surprising.

What was surprising was the fact that the entire men’s figure skating team was also present, including Isaac.

He didn’t like the look of slight apprehension the moment he entered.

Something wasn’t right…

“Mr. Katsuki! Pleasure to meet you.” he could only assume this man was the head of the athletics department.

“The pleasure is mine. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.”

He shook the man’s hand before sitting, noticing that the team remained standing.

“We weren’t aware that you attended UofM.”

“I didn’t want athletics to get in the way of my acceptance. I applied with my academic score and community service.” he responded.

“I see. That is amazing, quite frankly. Given your athletic resume.”

Yuuri nodded in good nature.

“Are we waiting for someone or..?”

“Ah, yes. The hockey team should be finishing up practice now. The coach is on his way.”

Yuuri quirked a brow.

“So why are they here so early?” he nodded to the skating team.

“Their coach isn’t even here yet.”

Isaac stiffled a smirk.

“And speaking of coaches, why is it that two different sports share one coach? I thought the person who informed me was joking when they said they shared a coach with the hockey team.” Yuuri pressed.

He glanced down at his watch.

“Can we bring in some chairs for them? Please? They’ve probably been standing for more than ten minutes if they’ve been here before I arrived.” he leveled the director with a disapproving look.

“Ah, right. Right! Chairs, please?” he motioned to the staff who stood outside who rushed to find chairs.

Yuuri squinted unhappily at the director.

They were left in an awkward silent stare which Yuuri had no problem of milking for awkwardness until a gruff man burst through the door glaring at the skaters.

“Ah, coach Sullivan. Come in please, take a seat. He saw the glint of desperation in the director’s eye as he ushered the heavy set man in.

If Yuuri knew anything about skating at all, he knew that this man had probably never gone passed junior skating in his life.

There was just no way that the oaf could have skated competitively.

He looked like the type of person whose sole purpose on a team would be to knock the opponents out against a wall.

He muttered a gruff hello to Yuuri who returned it with a nod.

“Coach Sullivan, this is Yuuri Katsuki. He is…”

“An olympic gold medalist along with being a consecutive medalist in the ISU grand prix along with several other global competitions. But for now, I’m a UofM undergraduate student.” he answered with a smile. Holding out a hand.

A hand which Sullivan pointedly did not shake.

Yuuri shrugged.

“Ah, well. Mr. Katsuki was… concerned about our lack of separate coaches for the hockey and figure skating teams.” the director began

To which Sullivan snorted.

“They don’t _need_ a seperate coach. They work out with the hockey team just fine.”

“Did you say they’re doing work outs with the _hockey_ team?” Yuuri looked _beyond_ indignant.

“Yeah. And they do just fine at the competitions. Ain’t that right?” he turned to face the skaters who nodded half heartedly.

Yuuri scoffed before turning to face the director.

“First of all, no. That’s not okay. My workout as a figure skater does not _at_ all match what a workout for a hockey team would look like. That’s just disrespectful to the sport.”

He shot Sullivan a withering look.

“Secondly, they share a coach, so what qualifications do you have in figure skating?”   

The director looked _extremely_ uncomfortable as Sullivan squirmed.

“I skated some in middle and high school.” he shrugged.

“Okay... “ Yuuri rolled his eyes before handing the director his folder.

“That is my entire skating resume, from when I first started to this year. I have one. Victor Nikiforov has one. I mean, even when he was coaching me, he had one ready to go in case anyone wanted to know. So I’d like to see Coach Sullivan’s. From one skater to another.” The director open the folder and his eyes just continued to widen as he flipped through the pages and pages of awards.

“Well. I’m sure Coach Sullivan needs some time to be able to fit that in during his busy schedule.” The director managed to get out.

“Okay. Well, how about Friday?”

“Friday?”

“Friday sounds good?” he asked once more, toying with his phone.

“That’ll give you two days to prove to me that UoM actually cares about its figure skating team. Which I’m sure the global skating community is just waiting to hear. The’ve been _particularly_ unhappy at the news.” he glared straight at the director who was visibly sweating, color draining from his face as the man beside Yuuri began to grow an alarming shade of red.

“You all owe it to these students. They’re the ones balancing school and sports. It’s not fair to them to not have the school’s support.” he pushed.

And without any other way out, the director relented, nodding.

“Friday it is.” he said with ultimatum.

 

  * __Low key might throw a party this Friday when UoM will be sharing coaching resumes with me.__



 

_@Phichit_C holla at me babe :)_

He posted casually with a smile.

“Well then, I hope to see you all in a better mood Friday.

He turned to the skaters.

And I’m sure the school could work out a clinic sometime this week before your next competition. I’d love to see all of your programs.”

And with that he left, back outside to his screaming fans, knowing _exactly_ what he had done.

 


	6. Chapter 6

“Okay but can we just take a moment and stan an absolute  _ queen _ . Yuuri, what the actual  _ fuck _ !” the door swung shut behind Isaac who carried four boxes of pizza with one hand and a bag of two liter soda bottles in the other. 

Everyone looked up from the meeting table as the heavenly scent of pizza wafted through the small study room. Yuuri threw up a peace sign, looking up briefly before going back to work, fingers flying across the keyboard before he double clicked to submit. 

“These are from the skate team, by the way. They send their  _ immense _ gratitude.” Isaac set the pizza down gently. 

“These are from the hockey team for knocking their coach down a few pegs.” he held up the sodas. 

“So what happened exactly? There were some insane crowds outside today. That and UoMs been  _ all  _ over sports media.” Andrew leaned back in his chair. 

“Definitely. I didn’t get any of it. All the twitter feeds and stuff.” Melissa nodded, passing Stephanie and Darius a box of pizza. 

Yuuri shrugged, leaning back in his chair as well, shutting his laptop gently. 

“Don’t even. This was  _ all  _ you.” Isaac scoffed. 

“I mean, in the best way. Also you’re amazing and thank you so much for what you did.” He added quickly.

“I wasn’t about to sit back and just let this mess continue.” Yuuri replied genuinely. 

“Mess?” Darius asked taking a piece of pizza. 

“How the figure skating team shares a coach with the hockey team, and how the coach is just a complete and utter  _ asshole.”  _ Isaac answered.

“He had them training with the hockey team. The  _ hockey-  _ my god. I almost walked out at that point.” Yuuri reached over and grabbed a slice of cheese pizza, relishing the utter unhealthiness. Yakov would have disapproved. But he’d just finished up a relatively stressful meeting and signed up for an upcoming qualifying competition for a bigger known national competition seconds prior while riding the high of the day and the pizza just cemented it all together.  

“So he basically tweeted at UoM, you know. We’ve read the tweet. But then it got so much recognition. I think Victor Nikiforov retweeted it-” 

“He’s my husband. Of course he’s going to retweet it.” Yuuri laughed, cutting Isaac off.

“Imagine being  _ that  _ much of a power couple.  _ Amazing.”  _ Isaac looked at Yuuri in awe. 

“But he retweeted it. I know Yuri Plisetsky retweeted and said something  _ real  _ salty. Chulanont. De la Iglesia. J.J and his rabid fan base... To name a few.” 

“Mhm. And Christophe personally messaged me. He wanted to know if he could help design the team costumes.” Yuuri stated casually between bites.

“Christophe?” the others echoed in confusion. 

“Chris-oh my  _ god _ ! Christophe like Christophe  _ Giacometti _ ?! From Switzerland?” Isaac nearly choked on the bite he took. 

“Yeah. he’s always wanted to, as a pet project.” 

“Christophe Giacometti wants to design  _ our  _ costumes?” Isaac repeated in shock. 

Andrew didn’t even bother to ask, typing the name in before turning it to the rest, eyes wide in surprise. 

“Woah…” they read through the list of his accomplishments. 

“He’s really good friends with Victor.” Yuuri nodded. 

“And if we’re being honest, Victor says this as well; Chris is the  _ best  _ at spins and spin combos. That man’s balance is  _ unreal. _ “ 

“So you-” Darius nodded to Yuuri. 

“-basically strong armed the athletic director into getting a new coach for the figure skating team along with possibly getting their costumes and all that taken care of with that  _ one  _ tweet?” he quirked a brow. 

Yuuri shrugged. 

“I mean, it was a pretty big problem and I had the power to solve it, so I did.” 

“Wait,  _ you’re  _ the reason that the athletic complex was surrounded today?” Stephanie asked. 

Yuuri nodded. 

“They agreed to meet with me. I just set my location to UoM.” 

“You’ve got some  _ crazy  _ fans.” 

“You should see Plisetsky’s. They’re something  _ completely  _ on another level.” he shuddered. 

“So what happened exactly? I saw your last tweet at some guy named Chulanont?” 

“Did you just-”

“Oh, we’re meeting again Friday.” Yuuri answered over Isaac’s indignant protest st Stephanie’s blase comment of Phichit. 

“I have a feeling that someone’s going to step down really soon..” Yuuri looked away with a raised brow, taking another bite of his pizza. 

“So are you really thinking about coaching?” Isaac asked. 

Yuuri tilted his head marginally before shrugging. 

“Definitely not full time, but I wasn’t lying when I said I could help out.” 

“Imagine getting upgraded from  _ Mr. I’m an asshole and can knock people out against the rink wall _ to  _ Olympic gold medalist and World Champion plus brains _ …. Wow… You know any half decent biology professors?” Melissa snarked jokingly. 

“Yeah. I can’t imagine UoM turning you down, honestly. Especially with all of the media attention. It would be horrible on the PR.” Darius agreed. 

“Well, we’ll get to see Friday, I guess. Either way,” Yuuri turned his phone over to check the sudden alert before continuing. 

“I’ll be seeing the entire team Friday. Or maybe Saturday. Probably Saturday, to be honest. Saturday and Sunday morning.” 

“Wait… What?!” Isaac turned, eyes wide, pizza half way to his mouth. 

“Mhm. We’re having a clinic. Or, UoM’s skate team is having a clinic-thing. Workshop?” he wrinkled his nose at the the sudden loss of word. 

“Since when? T-that wasn’t on the calendar!” Isaac rushed to open his calendar. 

“Since I said so. Your Athletic Director just ok’ed it.” He turned the screen to the group. 

“I submitted the request while we were waiting for your...fake coach.” 

“Ouch…” 

“Yikes…”

“I mean.. He’s not wrong…” Andrew winced. 

“Exactly. So, Saturday morning from ten to one we’ll have a conditioning session with an  _ actual  _ figure skating workout. And Sunday from three to seven we’ll do on ice work. I’ve found everyone’s program from the most recent program so I’ll have notes ready, which I will hopefully be able to share with the person who’ll be your actual coach.” 

“Damn…” Isaac stared in wonder. 

“That’s right. I’ll be channeling my inner Victor Nikiforov. And maybe more than just a little Yakov. Prepare yourself, Welton.” 

* * *

**_I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but you’re starting to get a real bad case of resting murder face and I approve._ **

Yuuri’s phone vibrated, alerting him of a new text.

It was all Yuuri got in terms of warning before almost having a heart attack, right there in his seat at his 9:45 wearing his favorite Victor’s hoodie and baseball cap. 

_ Almost...  _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses???? as to?? what happens???  
> ALSO   
> I have the next chapter ready to go! I promise! I just needed this cliff.


	7. Chapter 7

He did a double take, look of attentiveness morphing into confusion and then to panic, which he successfully dealt with very quickly wiping it off completely. He schooled his face back to attentiveness while trying his best to look around him as inconspicuously as possible.

Something he wasn’t getting very far with if the sudden shift in attention of the person sitting next to him was anything to go by.

Yuuri shook his head sheepishly, waving the questioning aside, assuring Issac that it was nothing and that he was just spacing. 

Which, he technically was if being  _ completely  _ distracted was anything like spacing. 

If so, he was very much spacing. 

Spacing so much so to a point where he was ready to just completely pack up and walk right on out mid lecture. 

But he wouldn’t, because he knew he needed to be on his best behavior today. That and the fact that he knew the guilt would eat him up if he didn’t at  _ least  _ focus on his one class of the day before really getting into his lazy day. 

He’d even carved out the rest of the day post meeting with the athletic director so that he could skype Phichit and keep him in the loop. 

Twenty more minutes and then the final meeting and he was free for the day and he was  _ ready _ . 

The turbulent week left him more tired than normal, something that McCabe had jumped on in haste to try and get him to take a day off. Something that was sounding like the best choice as the minutes ticked by.

Something that brought him back to his current predicament. 

What in the  _ world  _ was he supposed to get out of that text?

It was just so...Vague but also so painfully obvious. 

But it couldn’t be the obvious answer because that would make absolutely no sense. At  _ all.  _ Because if it was the obvious answer, it would mean that Phichit could see his face. And for Phichit to see his face, he’d have to be where Yuuri was. Sitting near the front in a lecture hall in UoM in Michigan  _ not  _ in Thailand like he was supposed to be, hard at work training. 

“-And so basically, we’ve finished up the chapter that’s going to be on the exam so we’re going to end things here for today.” There was a roar of applause and cheers as the instructor ended class early. 

Something that Yuuri was sure was due to the universe wanting to give him something nice before slapping him in the face. 

It just felt like that sort of day. 

He immediately took the chance to whip his body around, scanning the back rows with a startling level of severity. 

He was sure that he almost got whiplash from the speed at which he turned back around when his phone vibrated again. Twice this time. 

**_Wow, sweetie… try again?_ **

It was followed by the eye covering monkey emoji and an arrow pointing right. 

Yuuri turned slowly this time, looking up before slowly looking over to the right, phone still held securely between both hands. 

And then he recoiled as his mind finally processed everything, rendering him unable to do anything but stare wide eyed.

He wasn’t even sure why decided to read the next message that came in. 

**_Any time now, my friend. It’s getting kinda creepy…_ ** followed by three kissy emojies. 

It did the trick as Yuuri spluttered back to life, standing abruptly, nearly toppling over the table itself as his body forgot how to balance for a second. 

He didn’t even wait for the others to catch on before hopping on top of his fold down seat and then the table, much to everyone else’s surprise. 

“Yu-” was all Isaac got out before Yuuri had cleared a good seven seats and body slammed into what seemed to be a random student. 

Body slammed, tackle hug. Same difference… 

The important thing was that the other person didn’t seem to mind one bit, completely holding Yuuri up while managing to have not fallen in a feat of considerable strength and balance. 

“Alright friend, you gotta get down. I think you worried your friends.” 

Yuuri looked to his right to see that he had indeed worried his group of friends. But in all honesty he couldn’t say he cared all that much. 

“Don’t worry. I’m his friend. I promise he doesn’t just jump random people.” Phichit explained, still holding Yuuri. 

“Unless it’s at a gala. Or a banquet.” he turned, leveling Yuuri with a smug smile. 

Something that Yuuri returned with an eye roll. 

“One time. That was  _ one  _ time!” he admonished, dropping back to his feet. 

“Guang Hong and I have photos that beg to differ.” he muttered a smidge too loudly, looking away with a sarcastic tight lipped smile.

“We agreed that those pictures would be deleted.” Yuuri quirked a brow. 

“You don’t see them on instagram, do you?” 

“You guys are horrible…” 

“You love us. Don’t lie,” 

Phichit  shrugged. 

“I mean, I flew out all this way to see you. That’s got to count for something, doesn’t it?”

“Okay, yes. But can we just discuss the fact that you’re supposed to be in Thailand practicing???” 

“Oh, so  _ Mr. I don’t half ass practices  _  can decide to basically sit out a season to go back to  _ school _ ; which I’m not going to lie, I don’t really understand why you’d want to, but I, Thailand’s pride and joy, the one who put the country itself on the figure skating map can’t take a weekend off to see my friend?” 

Yuuri slowly brought up both hands, matching Phichit’s sarcastic tight lip smile.

“Okay, fair… You’re not wrong. But also, why you gotta call me out like that?” 

The two stared in tangibly sarcastic silence before breaking into a fit of laughter. 

“What just happened?” Andrew asked, staring as they slowly fell to the floor in laughter.

“Honestly, can’t say. But I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen him genuinely talk that much. Or laugh.. Which is kinda sad…” Melissa answered. 

“Is it a skater thing or-” Stephanie asked Isaac before stopping abruptly taken aback at the look of utter amazement, eyes wide and jaw nearly unhinged. 

“It is a skater thing, isn’t it…” 

Isaac took a moment to compose himself before answering, not taking his eyes off the two. 

“That’s Phichit Chulanont. He won gold at the Cup of China. I was in  _ love  _ with his program in the Grand Prix.” 

“Are we surprised? I guess it makes sense that talented people would hang out with talented people…” Darius commented with a shrug. 

It took a full three minutes for the two to collect themselves enough to stand back up, wiping tears of mirth from their eyes. 

“Wait, so, why are you really here?” Phichit blinked a few times before pinning Yuuri with a look of severe bemusement that just screamed  _ seriously?  _

“This boy. Bless his heart. So, so smart but so  _ so  _ dumb sometimes.” He shook his head before staring blankly at the group. 

“Why else would I fly all the way out to Michigan if not for my rogue best friend. I heard you’ve cause  _ quite  _ the social media uproar this week.” 

“Did you come to tell me to stop?” Yuuri asked, squinting just a bit in confusion. 

“Bitch, do I look like I’m here to tell you to stop? Have I  _ ever  _ been the one to tell you to stop?” 

Yuuri looked down in embarrassment. 

“Exactly. Also, technically speaking, you’re the one who called me over. I’m just doing my part and hitting you up like you asked.” Phichit shrugged. 

“I didn’t think you’d actually come over?!” Yuuri shook his head 

“Not that I’m not totally honored or unhappy. I just… this was so sudden.” 

“Same. Cause the fact that you had it in you to be  _ that  _ bitch was so sudden. I just couldn’t let this die.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. So I’ll be your moral support at the meeting today.” 

Yuuri lit up instantly. 

“Wait, for real?” 

“Yes for real. I even wore a button up, look” Phichit grabbed the bottom of his black Grand Prix hoodie before tugging up to reveal a neat button up.

“And I’ll be live tweeting the whole time as well, so you won’t have to worry about that.” 

“Okay, good. We can head over right now. Get it over with.” 

Phichit gave a thumbs up. 

“Leggo.” 

The meeting went as well as he figured it would with the hockey coach getting reinstated as  _ just  _ the hockey coach. 

They had acquired an actual figure skating coach in the short span of time. Something Phichit immediately tweeted out, fingers flying over his screen as he dug in, trying to find as much as he could about the new guy. 

Yuuri had been told once more that he was definitely allowed to hold the said workshop over two days from the school’s budget. He was promised that the rink would be cleared and that they’d have some PR techs over to cover the entire thing. 

And if the man looked squirmish and uncomfortable under Phichit’s unwavering stare, no one said. It wasn’t surprising. 

Even Yuuri knew that sometimes strong arming was necessary to get what was wanted. 

They emerged from the office victorious not even twenty minutes later, headed over to the student union to let everyone know the good news, not that they didn’t know. Phichit had made him aware that Isaac had been following through twitter the entire time. 

But they decided to go anyway, agreeing to grab lunch with the group. 

* * *

 

“I think we should do the first impression again, now that everyone is calm.” Phichit said giving Yuuri a sarcastic look. 

“I’m Phichit Chulanont. Yuuri’s best friend. Hi. Hello.” he gave them a thumbs up. 

“Are you a skater too or…?” Melissa asked reaching for a fry. 

Yuuri nodded. 

“He was my rinkmate when we trained in Detroit.” 

I’m back in Thailand now, training with the national team.” 

“Cool, cool.” Andrew nodded. 

“So you just came to visit?” He asked. 

“Something like that.” Phichit answered, responding to a text. 

“I’ll be here till Monday morning so I’ll probably be able to help with the workshop, by the way.” he nudged Yuuri who was momentarily distracted by a sudden text. 

So distracted that he didn’t see Isaac’s eye’s widen, almost bugging out from something behind where Yuuri and Phichit were sitting. 

He missed the way Isaac’s mouth snapped shut with a frantic nod. 

Which was why he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone came up behind them and leaned in close to his left ear, waiting a moment before smirking deviously, sending the others a wink. 

“It’s almost  _ sinful  _ how good my hoodie looks on you, babe.” it was husky and low but loud enough to carry around the table.

Yuuri jumped, startled hands launching his phone in the air. 

Which was caught with ease by slender fingers. 

Yuuri whipped around so fast he took the chair with him, succeeding in turning the seat a little more than a quarter by sheer force and grip. 

“Victor?!” 

The rest looked on with interest as they realized exactly who it was standing in front of them. 

Isaac’s jaw dropped open the moment Victor sent him a wink. 

“Thanks for the help.” 

“N-no problem!” 

“Yes problem. What in the  _ world  _ are you doing here?! Where’s Yura?” 

Victor lowered his chin, pulling on a puppy pout with suprising speed. 

“I don’t even get a hello? A hug at the very least?”  

Yuuri rolled his eyes, standing and embracing the man before breaking into a small smile that grew as strong arms wrapped around his back. He leaned into the embrace, taking in the familiar scent of Victor’s cologne. 

Soft lips stamped his head with a light kiss. 

_ God  _ he’d missed this man…

They pulled apart slowly, blush forming on Yuuri’s cheeks as he turned back to the group. 

“Everyone, this is Victor. My husband. Victor, this is everyone.” Victor chuckled good naturedly. 

“It is nice to finally meet my Yuuri’s friends.” he held out a hand to Darius.

“Darius.” he said, shaking the hand. 

Victor moved down the table. 

“Stephanie.”

“Melissa.” 

“Andrew.” 

“I-Isaac.” Victor’s brows scrunched before realization dawned on him. 

“Oh! You’re the one who can land quads in practice but not in competition.” 

Isaac turned impossibly reder, nodding. 

“We can fix that.” Victor smiled, still staring. 

“Um..” 

“Are you staying the entire weekend?” Yuuri asked warily. 

“I fly out tomorrow morning.” he answered. 

“But I’m sure I can spare two hours.” Victor looked back down at his watch. 

“Why don’t we just go now?” he asked far too casually. 

“N-now?” 

“Yes. The rink is empty right now.” 

“What, do you have some sort of ice rink telepathy now?” Phichit teased. 

“No, but I left Yura and Christophe alone and one of them might be dead by now..” 

“Yura? Christophe?” Isaac asked cautiously. 

“Yura. Well, I think you might know him. Yuri. Yuri Plisetsky. And Christophe Giacometti.” 

“They’re both here?!” Yuuri cut in.

“We flew in this morning and they’ve been at the rink since nine. I got Christophe to keep an eye on him.” Victor waved it away. 

“Is this some sort of intervention? Do you all not have a competition to be preparing for?” Yuuri demanded. 

“Well, Phichit said he was coming to help celebrate so I said I’d go as well and since I’m Yuri’s coach for now he had to come too.” Victor answered flippantly. 

“And Christophe?” Yuuri quirked a brow. 

“I thought he was designing the costumes?” 

“Now?” 

“Yes…?” 

There was a beat of silence before Yuuri face palmed. 

“You all are something else. Honestly.” he shook his head, sighing. 

“But anyway, going back to quads.” Victor settled his piercing stare back on Isaac who flinched. 

“I expect to see you warmed up and ready to go on the ice by-” he checked his watch. 

“-twelve thirty. That gives you an hour.” 

Isaac stilled before bolting, almost forgetting his backpack in his haste to get back to his dorm to get ready. 

“We can go out for dinner today. My treat.” Victor nodded at the group who stared back in various states of disbelief. 

“But until then-” he wrapped his arms around Yuuri’s shoulders, pulling him backwards with a possessive glint in his eye. 

“-I’ll be stealing him from you all.” he planted a kiss low on the side of Yuuri’s neck. 

“Victor!” Yuuri admonished, still blushing. 

“Any objections?” Victor narrowed his eyes. 

“Nope!” the group furiously shook their heads. 

“Good. because we’ve got  _ so  _ much to catch up on.” he leaned towards Yuuri’s ear. 

“Isn’t that right * _ zvezda moya _ ” 

Yuuri was pretty sure his legs turned to jelly at that very moment. 

But that wouldn’t do. 

Victor was right. They did have a lot of catching up to do. 

So  _ so  _ much indeed. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zvezda moya - My star


	8. Chapter 8

“ _ I want to stay low key  _ he says.  _ Everything is going to be kept a secret _ he says…” Yuri finished his scathing mimic with an eye roll. The smile tugging at the corner of his mouth gave everything away. 

“And now you bring me  _ this _ ?” he gave Isaac an impatient once over before turning back to Yuuri, head tilting just so to show just what he thought of the man’s plan. 

“But Yuu _ raaa _ ” Victor drawled, leaning against the rink wall, prodding the ice noncommittedly with his left toe pick. 

“Can you just imagine the PR you’d get?” he glided gracefully off of the wall, hands joining behind his back. It wasn’t even the smile that had him narrowing his eyes, it was the glint in his eyes. The very glint that screamed  **_V I C T O R Y_ ** .

He could practically feel it as the man skated lazy laps around him.

“You have two of the  _ best  _ social media influencers ready to get your selfless act of service trending. Right now. And all you have to do-” Victor clapped his hands together. 

“-is to teach Isaac over here, how to land his quad toe.”

He let the words really sink in before continuing. 

“And with the whole *ghost week fiasco, you’re not really in a place to let this opportunity go.” 

Yuri balked for a moment in silence, looking downright indignant.

“That’s just  _ low _ .” he hissed.

Victor shrugged nonchalantly with a smirk. 

“This is payback, isn’t it...” 

“Not at all. It’s character building.” 

“I don’t  _ need  _ character building.” 

“The reporters seemed to think otherwise…” 

“They can take their stupid opinions and shove it up-” 

Yuri stumbled as Victor’s hands shot out from behind his shoulders to clamp over his mouth, one over the other. 

“This stays inside our skating fam. I am  _ still  _ cleaning up the aftermath of the last mess.” Victor threatened, settling Christophe and Phichit with an alarmingly dark look. They both nodded vigorously, lowering their phones out of sight. 

“I’m going to let you keep that video, Welton. But the moment I see it pop up  _ anywhere  _ I’ll track you back down myself.” 

Isaac took an involuntary step back nodding, gliding slightly further than anticipated. But  _ damn…  _ The man was terrifying. Definitely not the person to cross…

Victor nodded an affirmative before taking his hands off.

“You were saying?” No one missed the threatening tone under the seemingly innocuous question. And Yuri definitely didn’t miss the quirked brow and pursed lips as the man continued his lazy laps. 

Yuri rolled his eyes, mumbling what Yuuri was pretty sure were strings of Russian expletives before throwing his hands up in defeat. 

“Fine.  _ fine.  _ But we bury the ghost week thing once and for all!” 

Victor nodded in agreement. 

“I can’t bury you if you’re a ghost, Yura.” he answered solemnly before bursting into laughter that had him doubled over, gliding out of his lazy circle into a line towards the wall before straightening up to wipe away the tears of mirth. 

*“I still can’t get over that article. ” he chuckled. 

“What…?” Yuuri asked, brows knitting together looking more than a little confused. 

“That’s a story for dinner, love.” Victor teased. 

“For now, we’re on a mission.” 

“Are we now…?” Phichit asked, inconspiciously holding his phone by his side  _ just so _ to film. 

“Yes!” he turned dramatically to face Isaac.

“By the time we’re through, Welton, you’re going to have a grand Prix final worthy quad toe!” he exclaimed, bringing his arms up in a graceful V. 

Yuri just stared.. Isaac looked like he was going to pass out, and Christophe and Yuuri applauded. 

“But first things first.” Victor turned back suddenly, hands on his hips. He leveled Phichit with a disapproving look. 

“I am  _ insulted  _ Chulanont! I expected better from you.” 

Phitchit arched a brow, leaning back marginally. 

“Are you now…?” 

He brought his hands up questioningly. 

“Please, do tell.” 

Victor looked down to Phichit’s phone before meeting his eyes once more.

“If you’re going to post me on Instagram I at least deserve to be filmed from a decent angle, and I  _ know  _ you know that that angle you’re in right now is  _ not  _ flattering  _ at all _ !” 

Phitchit brought his phone up slowly. 

“That’s right. We don’t half-ass social media content. We full ass it. Make it beautiful. Like Yuuri’s amazing ass.” 

There was a beat of frozen silence before everyone jumped into motion. 

“VICTOR NIKIFOROV! THERE ARE chILDREN PRESENT!” Yuuri admonished, reddening by the second. 

“Oh  _ damn  _ he went there!” Phitchit yelled at his screen. 

“Get it!” Christophe cheered. 

Victor blew a kiss to Yuuri before turning to face Isaac and Yuri. 

“Sorry kids. I’ll keep it PG from now on. But honestly-” he swiveled his neck back to where the other three stood. 

“-I... _ damn. _ Just. Damn. I can’t handle it.” he swooned, looking every inch as graceful as he had been in his Stammi Vicino program.  

Yuri gritted his teeth before reaching over to grab the front of Isaac’s shirt, dragging the surprised skater further out towards the middle. 

“Let’s get one thing clear. You’re going to pull this off or so help me god, we’re going to have a problem.” 

“O-okay..” Isaac nodded.

“Good.” Yuri turned to shoot Victor an irritated glare. 

“I fucking hope you’re happy!” 

“Oh, I assure you I am,  _ coach  _ Plisetsky. Very  _ very  _ happy.” Yuri didn’t even stand a chance as the shutter sound rang from Victor’s phone the moment he turned.

And then spotted the other three...

_ For the publicity... _

He repeated internally, forcing his irritation back. 

He'd repay the favor.

But for now... 

He needed to work a miracle. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *keep an eye out for a one-shot that'll be posted soon!!


	9. Chapter 9

_ “Keep it tight. Tight. Tight! Again.”   _ Isaac groaned as Yuri’s voice rang out top volume as Christophe leaned in to watch the looped video once more, almost head to head with Phichit who looked  _ far  _ too energized after what had ended up being a grueling three hours with an hour of video critique which brought them to the diner they were in for an early dinner. 

“Can you imagine getting a three hour personal training session with two of the best in the world?” Melissa quirked a brow watching Stephanie swipe over to the next video in Phichit’s instagram post. 

_ “Good. I want five more. They better be pristine.”  _ it was followed by five slow but individual quads capped with a exhausted cheer from Isaac who proceeded to lay himself down on the ice. There was a chuckle off camera before Victor came into frame, coming to a stop a step away from Isaac before squatting. 

_ “Now that that’s out of the way, take ten. Your step sequences need work too. And we can finally work on some sort of combination or sequence jump for that upcoming competition.”  _ he prodded the boy’s shoulder. 

Isaac’s eyes looked up to Victor in shock as he let out a strangled grunt of protest before turning onto his front, flipping his hood to bury his face on the ice.

_ “Welton. Welton? Isaac?”  _ Victor turned to face the camera. 

_ “Did he really just die on me?”  _

Phichit’s laugh rang out as Victor gave Isaac a few more prods before standing back up, flipping Isaac back onto his back in one fluid motion of surprising strength before hooking his arms under Isaac’s arms, dragging the frozen and mortified  skater off the ice.

* * *

 

“Did you actually end up practicing your.. Step-step? Sequence?” Darius asked.

Isaac’s face reddened as he pointedly avoided Victor’s challenging gaze. 

“Kind of?” he squeaked. 

“Kind of? Andrew wrinkled his nose in confusion. 

“I mean-”

“ _ Vitya. _ Cut him some slack. He’s a  _ collegiate _ level athlete.  _ And  _ he’s had a terrible coach for the past two years!” Yuuri admonished lightly, taking Victor’s hand in his. 

“It’s a work in progress. We got through the beginning of it.” Yuuri answered lightly with a smile. 

“Oh wait, wasn’t the step thing technically yours to begin with?” Andrew asked, nodding at Yuuri. 

“It was a team effort. I worked hard on it, but Victor was there to help me the whole time too so..” he clapped his hands together. 

“Poor Isaac got both of us at once for the step sequence.”

Isaac winced. 

While it was  _ the  _ most amazing and surreal experience to have, not one, but all three top skaters helping him one on one, it was hard. It had been a brutal three hours on the ice and the extra hour watching his practice session hadn’t exactly been easy either. It was nothing like the casual library day Yuuri had given him the first time they met. 

But with a infinitely more stable quad and step sequence under his belt he felt miles more confident than he had the last competition. 

That along with a new found respect for all of the skaters involved, some of the top in the world sitting down at a decently okay diner to have dinner with him after helping him with his program. The fact that they were so chill was doubled down in his head after finding out first hand how hard it was they trained. 

He couldn’t speak for Chulanont and Giacometti, but from what he’d experienced, Nikiforov and Plisetsky were near mental and Yuuri wasn’t too far behind. 

A small part of him doubted whether they were human at all. The attention to detail and energy expenditure along with the seemingly absent self preservation in terms of practice had his mind and body reeling. 

“Dinner and an ice bath. You should go to bed early tonight, Isaac. Especially with the clinic-workshop tomorrow.” Victor ordered, taking a sip of the glass of ice water in front of him as the waiter stopped at their table to unload the dishes. 

“Ice bath.” Victor repeated his order, pointedly sticking his fork in the sizable loaf of meat. 

“R-right!” Isaac nodded, answering hurriedly. . 

“Good. We’ll continue the rest of the step sequence tomorrow.” 

“You all are welcome to come sit in tomorrow, but honestly, it’s not going to be any on ice work. It’s going to be off ice workouts but those can be pretty interesting. Especially since Victor is going to be leading it.” Yuuri told the group as they piled into Darius’s car. Victor stood, arms around Yuuri’s waist, nodding along happily. 

“Ten in the morning?” Andrew asked from the front seat. 

“At the rink.” Victor answered. 

“We’ll be breaking around twelve for lunch too.” Yuuri added. 

Everyone nodded. 

“Can we put things on social media?” Stephanie asked. 

Victor and Yuuri made eye contact for a moment, sharing a silent conversation before shrugging. 

“I don’t see why not. So as long as everything is appropriate.” Victor nodded. 

“Like that photo Chulanont posted in Barcelona?” Isaac asked from the middle seat, long arms wrapped around his long legs that were squished up in the small space between Stephanie and Melissa. 

“Absolutely  _ not”  _ Yuuri answered immediately.

“We’ll see.” Victor winked. 

“Victor no.” Yuuri admonished.

“Victor  _ yes _ .”  Victor smirked. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Welton. Early.” 

And with that Darius pulled into reverse, gave the couple a wave before driving off.

 

__

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little cute filler to mellow down the intensity from TSW and EC~

“I’ll let  _ you _ decide this time.” Victor leaned on his right with his hands on his hips as he eyed the blonde neutrally, seemingly oblivious to the group of skaters that were gathered together behind him on the rink’s second floor track. 

“You do another 2  kilometers when the group comes and go work on your spin sequence with Chris  _ or  _ you can do a full session with Yuuri until we break for lunch. I know you haven’t gotten to have any ballet sessions this week, and even Lilia admitted that he’s amazing. I’m sure you can learn something new.”

“Two hours with  _ Katsuki _ ?! Is that even a question? The man’s stamina isn’t human.” Yuri hissed, glancing  downstairs on the ice where Giacometti was giving Chulanont and Yuuri tips on more advanced spins. 

Victor shrugged, following Yuri’s line of sight to the ice. 

“In that case” he tore his gaze away, meeting Yuri’s quirked brow. 

“Yes?” the blonde hissed

“Two more kilometers and you can go.” 

Yuri rolled his eyes, ripping out his hair tie before fixing his sweaty strands into a tight braid. 

Victor turned suddenly, startling the group of skaters behind him. 

He stared a moment before clapping his hands enthusiastically together. No one missed the wolf like smile that was beginning to take root behind the bright energy. 

“I take it you all are UofM’s men’s skating team?” 

There were various nods and quiet grunts of affirmation, all too scared to actually say anything in front of the one and only Victor  _ freaking  _ Nikiforov.

“Good. Good. Well, before we start this clinic I have a  _ very  _ important question and I require your utmost honesty.” he crossed his arms casually, continuing to stare in his special way that made everyone squirm under his piercing gaze.

Heavy silence descended at the sudden note of seriousness.   

“Is everyone here sober?” it was so nonchalant that even Yuri ground to a halt a few meters away. 

“Are you serious…? What kind of dumbfuck would show up intoxicated?” Yuri shot back tersely. Surely no one could be  _ that  _ dense in making decisions… 

“Because they’re students, not professional athletes. And some of them may or may not have a tendency to make unhealthy life choices at times.” he leveled a flat stare at Isaac who did what he could to not make eye contact. 

“So I need to know, for the sake of this going as best as it can, that every single one of you are 100% sober right now.” 

There were awkward nods and some quiet “yeah-s” echoed through the group.

Victor nodded, seemingly satisfied at the over all answer. 

“Good. Because if any of you throw up on me or anywhere inside this building other than the toilet, we’re going to have a problem.”

There were frantic nods this time. 

“Before we start, I have a few ground rules to lay down. Rule number one. Don’t fake knowing how to do something. I don’t care if it’s the easiest thing in the world and you feel embarrassed about asking for help. If you fake it and fail, I’ll definitely rub it in. And then I’ll make you run laps.” 

Victor smiled that scary smile again. 

“Rule number two. If I don’t give you a number, it means you don’t stop until I tell you so. If you stop,  _ everyone  _ will stop and  _ everyone  _ will start over together. Rule number three. I don’t make suggestions. Keep that in mind.” 

A few of the skaters were starting to sweat as the  _ real  _ Victor Nikiforov came to life right before their eyes. 

“Rule number four. For all that is good in the world,  _ look  _ where you’re going. You’ll be sharing the ice with five world ranked skaters. You don’t want to be  _ that  _ person who benched someone for a season.” 

There was a threat thrown in there not hidden too well.

“And lastly, rule number five. Look at me-” he paused, making sure he had everybody’s complete attention. “This is no democracy. This is a dictatorship, and I am the law.” he ended with a broad, almost menacing smile.

“So with that, welcome to UofM’s first ever figure skating clinic. I expect great things.” 

* * *

 

Two kilometers in had the team starting to sweat, sending envious glances down at where Yuri exited out of a clean sit spin for the nth time, but not clean enough from the amount of critique Giacometti was giving him. 

In a way they had expected as much. There wasn’t a lot of room for mistakes at Plisetsky’s level, and Giacometti  _ was  _ the officially unofficial king of spins. In a way, they were jealous, but also relieved that it wasn’t them being brutally picked apart. But starting with laps that Victor hadn’t given them a number to made the situation something akin to being stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

How much did the man himself run normally? Plisetsky had been running when they arrived, surprisingly five minutes early. They’d seen Nikiforov flag him down to give him the options. They’d all watched as he took an extra two kilometers against having to practice with Katsuki. So if ballet was the worse of two options, how many kilometers had he run to begin with?

“Rest assured I am counting, but you’re all slowing down so I may or may not just start subtracting.” Victor shouted from the far end of the track. It did the trick in prompting everyone to pick up their pace.

“Let’s go! Push it!” 

They lapped him yet again. 

Three more times for a total of five laps before he waved them to slow down but keep moving. 

“Everyone grab a partner and spread out. We’re going to start in the tens.” everyone spread out as they were told, panting still. 

“I want ten push ups. Ten sit ups. Ten crunches. Ten reverse crunches, ten ankle taps, and ten burpees. Aaand go!” the sound of huffs filled the track area as Victor’s eyes swept to and fro to weed out any lazy ones cutting corners. Which, to his pleasant surprise, no one was. He waited patiently for them to finish, counting down in his head with them. 

“Now take a lap. I want knees to chest. Go go!” they sped off without another word, only to return red faced and a little more out of breath. 

“Twenty of the same set.” no one hesitated, most of them having figured out how things were probably going to go. 

They were probably going to die. But they would die together, if it were any sort of consolation. 

Twenty minutes found them at forty reps and wishing for the sweet embrace of death. Or the sweet icy embrace of the rink so close but so  _ so  _ far away. Victor let them have their water break, ordering them to come to the noticeably unused dance studio downstairs in ten before gliding down the stairs himself towards the bleachers. 

They collapsed with groans the moment they were sure he was out of the range of hearing, trading comments of how utterly  _ immortal _ the man must be. That or he had to be a masochist of some sort. There was no way he could be that uppity about almost dying. 

But then again, the man  _ was  _ a world champion after all.. He had to have had a point in his career, even if it were just when he was starting off where it was just as much a struggle for him as it was for them. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise… 

But looking past the almost sadistic way he was running them into the ground, it was definitely a nice change from the near apathetic way their previous coach had been ‘training’ them. Felt more real and cared about, which would have been great even if the person wasn’t Victor Nikiforov. But it was Nikiforov, making everything a thousand times better. 

They felt like they were worth  _ something _ . Appreciated. Because everyone knew that before Yuuri had arrived like the knight in shining armour he was, the school hadn’t really given a flying fuck about them, especially on those rough competitions where no one placed at all. Ignored until they won, and even then it was just a nice thing they could use in their brochure. So the fact that they had so many amazing skaters willing to give them a hand and to help them get better just for the sake of wanting to help made the hellish experience nothing short of amazing. 

Which was why they dutifully arrived at the studio three minutes early to Yuuri’s approving smile. 

“Look at you all, showing up early.” he waved them in, ordering them to spread out on the barre that ran along the floor to ceiling mirror wall. They did as they were told, spreading themselves out as Yuuri readied the speaker system. 

“We’ll start off slow since I don’t know whether all of you have any ballet experience. Don’t worry if some things are difficult, just try it as best as you can and follow along. I promise you you’ll have had a good workout regardless of whether or not you followed all the steps.” he nodded before moving to the solo barre in the front before pressing play on his phone and then pocketing it. 

“We’re going to start in first position plies.” he demonstrated gracefully. 

“Ten plies. Ten grande plies. And then ten grande plies up to releve and susu...”

* * *

 

By the time the hour was through Isaac along with the entirety of the team had a new found respect for Yuuri. 

Graceful, strong, and terrifying all at once behind those kind eyes. 

“Lunch break!” Phichit’s sudden intrusion into the echoey studio had everyone but Yuuri startled. 

“Don’t push them  _ too  _ hard  _ Yu _ uri. They’re not gonna have energy left for the ice.”

Yuuri chuckled a nod, dismissing the skaters with a wave. 

“The athletic director said that there would be catering, I think. Something not pizza apparently. In the upstairs viewing room.” they nodded, waving as they left, leaving Phichit to wait for Yuuri to shut the sound system down before making their way to lunch, just like old times.


	11. Chapter 11

Lunch had been pleasant to say the least. 

Way less awkward and intimidating than everyone had braced for, seeing as they were eating with literal  _ world champions _ . But  _ world champions  _ they’d found, were honestly so  _ so  _ normal that it was a little strange. Victor had nudged a few of the younger, underclassmen on the team to scoot so that he could wedge himself in their table without skipping a single beat, completely ignoring the look of utter amazement and wide eyed terror as one of their  _ idols  _ had decided to sit with them instead of with the other skaters. 

The other skaters it seemed, had the same idea, spreading out so that they were sitting with the team, sharing conversation and jokes about anything and everything from jokes to serious debate and analysis of the past couple of competitions. 

It made for amazing material as the school sponsored PR team flittered around snapping photos and  videos. 

But the lunch period had ended  _ far  _ too soon and the skaters shuffled out behind an exuberant Giacometti who shared a booming laugh-almost-cackle with Chulanont before stopping in synch to turn their gaze slowly back to where Plisetsky was speaking with Victor who seemed uncharacteristically serious. 

“What’s that about?” Phichit nudged Yuuri who glanced back in time to see Yuri hiss about something on his phone screen before shrugging.

“Probably discussing some part of his program.” he waved off their concern with one last glance back. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so serious apart from during competition,” Christophe mumbled, noticing that  _ their  _ noticing had alerted the skaters following behind him to notice that Victor and Yuri had all but stopped, halfway down the steps to the rink as Plisetsky pointed something out near where they had run laps, irritation evident in his expression. 

Victor didn’t look too far behind, turning completely to talk to Yuri face to face. 

“We should give them some space. Start the warm up. They’ll come when it’s all sorted.” Yuuri, ever the peacemaker ordered, motioning for everyone to keep walking. 

“I want everyone booted and on the ice in the next three minutes!” Phichit shouted before nodding an affirmative. 

They’d just have to trust that whatever the problem was, two world champions would be enough to figure it out. 

* * *

 

“This is an absolutely  _ disgusting  _ violation of privacy. In what world is this okay?!” Yuuri gestured angrily to the post on his Instagram dash. The post he along with Plisetsky, Chulanont, Giacometti,  _ and  _ Nikiforov had been tagged in. 

They weren’t grainy but they weren’t perfect, but they  _ were _ clear enough that it was obvious who was in that photo and what exactly was happening. 

“You promised us absolute privacy outside the allotted PR team. I gave the PR team set times they were allowed in the area so the skaters could  _ focus _ .” he continued his furious verbal rampage as Victor, Christophe, Phichit, and Yuri sat around the rink’s seating area silently, staring daggers at the athletic director who looked like he was going to bolt at any moment. 

“And that’s not even the  _ worst  _ part.” 

“Mr. Katsuki, if I may-” 

“DON’T MR. KATSUKI ME. Is this team a  _ joke  _ to you? Do you honest to god think that gathering not  _ one  _ but  _ five  _ world-ranked skaters to make a clinic just happens on the fly? Just happens  _ anywhere  _ if you throw enough money on it?!” 

“Yuuri… Love, breathe, please.” 

He rounded, making Victor recoil immediately with a surprised little gulp. 

“You almost  _ died _ , Vitya. Everyone did! I will  _ not  _ calm down until I get some goddamn  _ answers! _ ” he turned back to the director. 

“I know that you know who it probably was. I know that you know where the keys to the tech room are. And I  _ know  _ you know by know that I am more than ready to break down that door myself.” Yuuri quirked a brow. 

“But you  _ know  _ that’s unnecessary because you and I know who it was. So why don’t we stop wasting everyone’s time and  _ get on with it _ !?”

“I-Well you see, Mr. Katsuki-” he grimaced at the deadpan look Yuuri had on him. 

“T-the equipment in that room is  _ very  _ expensive and-uh- we should wait until we can locate the staffer who has the keys…” he finished off lamely, unable to look anyone in the eye.  _ Particularly  _ avoiding the furious blonde with an ice pack over his left wrist seated next to Victor who was nursing his own ice pack on his shoulder. Phichit had a pack of ice on his left knee and one on his right forearm that was covered in a splotchy darkening bruise while Christophe leaned against the back of the plush seat, holding a pack to his right wrist as well. A big square band aid stuck out on his left thigh under the jacket that was covering the fact that he was only wearing one leg of his pants as the other lay sizeably ripped. 

“You know what’s expensive, director? A lawsuit from five pro athletes who happen to be national team members to four different countries.  _ That’s  _ expensive.” he rebutted sharply. 

“And with it being competition season, it’s  _ not  _ going to be good press for you or the school. Especially since that  _ idiot  _ uploaded it to social media. It’s spreading like wildfire.” 

The director winced. 

“So I’m going to give you a choice.” he crossed his arms. 

“You either fire him today and send out an official apology to  _ each  _ individual skater, no copy and paste. I want you to explain exactly what happened.” the director’s eyes grew wide. 

“Or. We all start the lawsuit today. And then I’ll get the footage myself and upload it so  _ everyone  _ can see what you  _ chose  _ to overlook. And then I’ll drag him until he quits by himself  _ and  _ make sure you’re out of a job by Wednesday. The choice is yours.” there was a hushed “ _ damn”  _ from where Phichit and Christophe sat. 

“And while we’re on that subject, since I’m pretty sure the one who botched up the ice was the same person who got those photos-” he gestured angrily to his phone again. 

“I want to know why he was allowed access into the rink today in the first place.  _ Especially  _ after I gave you a specific list of requests.” 

“I-uh-” 

“Don’t say you don’t know. I gave you  _ one  _ job.” Yuuri snapped. 

“Regardless of the choice you make about the video, I do want an apology,  _ today _ , about those photos. A sincere  _ personal  _ apology. Especially since you’re probably going to be under investigation  _ very  _ soon with or without me.” 

“Excuse me…?” the man looked like he was going to faint.

“These photos-” Yuuri swiped through. 

“They’re all shirtless at one point. Pantsless in some too.”

The director didn’t move. 

“ _ Especially  _ Plisetsky, right here. Five out of the ten, he’s in them without at least one article of clothing.” 

 Yuri shuddered, anger evident in his volatile eyes. 

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t know but, Yuri Plisetsky is a _ minor _ , director.” Victor nodded, eyes narrowing at that. 

“He’s not eighteen yet. And so, your guy just secretly filmed and posted locker room photos of a minor in the school’s own rink locker room.  And let me just say-” he scowled. 

“It’s been what, thirty minutes?” 

“Twenty five.” Phichit corrected airly. 

Yuuri nodded.” Twenty five- thank you- minutes, and people have already noticed. And it’s still blowing up, and soon, you’re going to have the Russian Figure Skating Federation knocking on your door asking why the  _ fuck  _ there are lockeroom photos of their underaged skater circulating.” 

He shrugged. 

“I mean, there have been  _ tons  _ of reporters around campus anyway after the last twitter thing. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to pay your office a visit.” 

“Okay! Okay. Let’s all just take a breath-” the director rushed, putting his hands up to try and placate the furious skater standing before him looking like he was ready to cut the man to pieces with his own skates.

“I’ll issue an  _ immediate  _ apology and have a talk with coach Sullivan-” 

“You mean, you’re going to  _ fire  _ that bastard.” Yuuri cut in. 

“Well-” 

“Phichit! Call the police. We’re done here.” he turned on his heel to face the Thai skater with absolute seriousness on his face. 

“Wait!” 

“Nope. Too late for that. Christophe, you remember how to get to the hotel, right? I can call you guys an uber. Let me go shower and I’ll meet you all back-” 

“Please, Mr. Katsuki!” he stopped mid jolt forward as Victor turned with incredible speed, staring the man down all the while protecting Yuuri’s back so the man wouldn’t be able to touch him. 

“I suggest you take a few steps back, director.” Victor bit out. 

The man did as instructed. 

“Everyone out. We are done here. The school’s decisions have been made-” he turned to give the frazzled looking director a pitying look. 

“-and I hope that they realize just  _ how  _ screwed they really are.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses as to the injuries? It's so petty...


	12. Chapter 12

“I know for as long as I live I won’t  _ ever  _ feel more fierce than I did in that video.” Isaac sat back in the surprisingly comfortable booth. 

“Not gonna lie, you guys actually really do look fierce. Like, oh  _ shit  _ fierce, you know?” Stephanie commented, watching the clip again. 

“It’s cause you’ve got Victor-I don’t give a flying fuck-Nikiforov and Yuuri -I’ll curb stomp a bitch- Katsuki leading. That and the fact that it almost looks like you guys are in V formation.” Phichit drawled. 

“And no one, I mean  _ no one  _ messes with Yuuri-I’ll curb stomp a bitch- Katsuki when he’s mad. 100 out of 10 would avoid. He gets scary when he’s mad..” 

“Honestly tho, I’ve never seen either of them angry in any of the competition and interview videos… maybe that’s why it’s so much more intimidating in person?” Isaac shot Phichit a curious look. 

“Yeah. They’re never really mad like this, so when it happens it’s cause of something big.” He took a long sip of his soda. 

“I mean, you’ve probably noticed but Yuuri is a really caring guy. And I know you all don’t really know Victor, but he’s super caring as well. Really protective over friends and younger skaters. Like I heard that he full on decked a coach one time cause he shoved one of the junior skaters on the ice into the boards. They’re both professionals. They know how detrimental injuries can be. You better thank the gods above that none of you made it on the ice cause if it were any of you he actually might have stomped your athletic director with his skates.” 

“Damn…” Darius whistled in surprise. 

“Yeah. And the whole photo thing just made everything a hundred times worse.” 

“Photo… thing…?” Andrew leaned in, prodding Phichit to explain. 

“Someone, we’re assuming the coach, had a camera in the locker room. Got some  _ interesting  _ photos.” 

“What?!” 

“Yeah. It’s bad but the fact that Plisetsky is still a minor makes it  _ really  _ bad.” 

Isaacs eyes doubled in size in understanding. 

“He took secret photos of a  _ minor _ ?!”

Phichit nodded. 

“And then he leaked them on social media.” 

“Oh man…” 

“Wait. You said the photo thing made the ice thing even worse, but what exactly was the ice thing? We were all over by the lockers so we didn’t see anything. Just heard some shouts.” Isaac pushed, pulling his drink closer as he listened with great interest. 

*“when we finished lacing up, the ice was definitely wetter than normal but I know someone from the rink came by and polished the ice during our lunch break so we all thought it was just slow in drying. So we got to the gate and you know how you take your guards off before you get in?” 

There were nods. 

“We did, and I can’t speak for everyone else, but we basically got on the ice all at once and there was this guy dropping feeling cause I wasn’t gliding I was literally tripping and we all got tangled together and went down pretty hard. And then we felt the surface and that’s when we knew someone had fucked up the ice.” Phichit scowled, eyes narrowing at the memory. 

“It was water mixed with heavy duty salt. Like the salt they use for roads when it snows? Some of it had melted into the ice and some were still chunks.”

“You guys tripped on the salt or…?” Andrews brows drew together in concern. 

Phichit shook his head. 

“You could feel it the moment you stepped on the ice. Someone messed with our blades as well. Yuuri’s looked like someone used it as a saw on a fucking  _ brick _ . Victor’s skate got scrapped down almost completely on his outside edges and toe pick.” 

“What a bastard!” Isaac hissed. 

“That just sounds like some petty shit he’d do.” 

“Yeah well, I hope he knows just how expensive our skates are cause we all need new ones now. And it’s probably going to have to come out of pocket.” Phichit shrugged. 

“Just annoying that we’re gonna have to break in new boots mid competition season.” 

There was immediate silence as a shrill whistle sounded through the small diner as everyone’s attention swiveled to the booth Yuuri and Victor had taken in the back, documents and loose leaf pages with notes jotted down littered the table between their half eaten dinner and cups of soda, something neither Victor nor Yuuri opposed to having this time around. With the chaos that had unfolded in the past few hours they deserved a treat. 

“First and foremost, is anyone else injured? Be truthful.” Victor gazed around at the occupied booths nearby as the skaters shook their head. 

“Chris and Phichit , I’ve contacted your coaches and they’ve contacted your skating organizations in case you all decide to press charges. 

“Yura, we’re pressing charges, but it’s your choice on whether or not you want to sit this upcoming competition out. You don’t need to answer today, just by the end of next week.” Yuri nodded, obviously irritated at the events that had occurred. 

“As for the rest of the clinic” Yuuri spoke up. 

“We’ll have to cancel.” There we’re collective awwws of disappointment. 

“We’re sorry but it’s mid competition season and we don’t have skates for now. And as much as I hate to say it, I can’t ask my friends to stay behind to help after all of this. You guys should be getting ready for the competition.” Phichit sighed, rubbing at tired eyes. Yuuri wasn’t wrong. It  _ was  _ an important time for them and after the whole photo and ice incident it wouldn’t do well for the skaters to remain. They needed new skates and to lie low. But they knew Yuuri’s heart was in the right place in helping the school team. But for now, in the state they were in, they would be fit to help out anyway. 

“On another equally depressing note, the rink is going to be closed for the next week to fix the ice. Fortunately, the local public rink has been kind enough to offer two hour morning sessions for the week. That means you guys will be training at the other rink until the competition. It’s a little bit far but the school has said they’re going to offer shuttle transportation.” Yuuri rolled his eyes. How  _ kind _ …

“It’s gonna be from 6-8 AM which means you guys will have to be at the school’s rink by 5:30. 

There were disappointed groans. 

“So after dinner you all are free to go. I’ll send out an email if anything changes.” 

He sat back down, glaring down st the notes. 

“I am going to  _ end _ him. ” 

Yuuri snapped up, completely thrown by the sudden statement, to stare into Victor’s eerily twinkling blue eyes. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I said-“ the corners of his mouth curled into a ice cold smirk. 

“-That man, the hockey coach. He’s a dead man walking, dorogoy.” 

“Vitya, no.” 

“Just wait and see…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *you gonna get scraped up rusted blades my friends
> 
> A L S O   
> Victor May or may not throw hands. Who knows? 🤷🏻♀️


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING   
> gracious swearing   
> Racial/sexual slurs   
> Inappropriate comments about a minor

“Vitya. You need to lighten up. Just a little. You look scary.” 

“This man-the director. He requested a professional meeting. I’m in professional clothes. I just happen to look like-what did Chulanont call it-a uh-a mobster. Something about a resting murder face? I can’t change that, love. I’ll just have to keep looking like a member of the bratva.” Victor didn’t even hesitate in straightening his cuffs, securing the gold cufflinks before grabbing the dark grey silk suit coat off of the back of the chair he’d draped it on before getting ready. 

“And I only brought one suit. I can’t just go in casual clothes.” 

“Yes, but you look like you’re going to murder someone. It’s going to be all over social media.” 

Victor shrugged. 

“Depending on how the meeting goes, I just might.” 

“Excuse me?!”

“ _ Might _ . There won’t be a need for murder if the man just apologizes. Apologizes and resigns. Maybe moves countries. Goes missing for a bit.” he shrugged before turning back from the mirror to face Yuuri who was seated on the couch in his own dark suit and tie.

“I know it’s beyond ridiculous. You and I both know that you two are basically family. And as a coach you have every right to be furious, but we’ve got to think through this logically. The competition is in a couple of weeks and you  _ know  _ the last thing you two need is bad press.” 

Victor’s mouth thinned into a disapproving line,  _ clearly  _ unhappy at the true facts before him.   

“So we do it the proper way and make sure he gets exactly what he deserves. Because sometimes revenge needs to be objective.”

 

“You think you’re tough, huh? You little  _ bastard _ .” 

A hush fell over the considerable crowd stationed just outside the athletic building, having been alerted by Chulanont on Twitter that there was something big happening inside hours prior . 

Victor didn’t even spare the man a glance as he walked straight past him toward the crowd. Yuuri followed suit, jaw clenching at the words.

“Hey. I’m fucking talking to you!” he lunged forward, grabbing on to Victor’s left sleeve, pulling none too gently.

Victor hesitated for a split second before shrugging the hand off, only to be tugged aggressively back, forcing him to turn to face the man.Yuuri turned as well, glaring daggers at the man, fully prepared to jump in if need be.

 “Get off.” Victor ordered, sharply, staring the man down in a mixture of anger and disgust. 

“You think you’re hot shit, dont you? Think you can just do whatever the hell you want to in someone else’s home turf. Meddle in someone else’s business.” 

His grip tightened. 

“Well newsflash, I can see through your shit skating. We all know you’re where you are cause of connections. Russians are like that. Whose ass did you have to kiss to get where you are?” Victor’s atm shot out to block Yuuri from advancing forward. 

“It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it, love.”

“You’ve already lost. Just walk away.” Yuuri hissed, eyes narrowing in growing anger. 

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll call the police and we’ll file another suit. That’ll  _ really  _ keep you from finding another position.” 

The man laughed scornfully. 

“Oh, so now you’re both tough guys. Oooo scary.” 

He turned back to Victor before letting go. 

“Maybe if you manned up and grew a pair instead of tattling like a fucking  _ child  _ you’d be a half decent athlete. You and all the other  _ faggots _ twirling around on the ice.” 

The temperature plummeted as Victor’s eyes narrowed in check rage that was starting to bubble. 

But he wasn’t going to rise to it. He wasn’t about to give the trash of a human the satisfaction of a reaction. 

Which was why he turned, grabbing on to Yuuri’s hand and started to walk away, head held high. 

“That’s right. Fucking run away, you little  _ pansy.  _ And take that piece of shit chink with you.” 

Their grip tightened, hand in hand. 

“And as for the blonde.”  _ That _ had the two stopping in their tracks, looking back as if almost daring the man to continue. 

“He should just retire now. Get a head start on a career he’d actually be good at. I’m sure he could work a corner just fine with that figure.” 

Victor dropped his grip to stride over, jaw clenched and eyes ablaze in fury. 

“What the  _ fuck  _ did you just say?”

“I said-“ the man shoved Victor hard, causing him to sway. 

“Blondie would be better suited for a corner than-“

There was no hesitation, and the aim was spot on as Victor’s punch landed squarely on the man’s jaw sending him reeling. But Victor caught him by the collar just in time, righting the man just enough so that he could wind up and punch again. 

“Victor!” Yuuri jumped to separate the two, which was getting increasingly hard as Victor grew increasingly angry. 

“You are a  _ disgusting  _ excuse of a human being.” He landed another blow, sending the man to the ground. 

But the anger didn’t stop as the first kick landed soundly on the gut, causing the coach to curl. 

“He is  _ seventeen.  _ A  _ minor _ !” He kicked again before taking a breath and crouching down on his haunches. 

“Look at me” he pulled the man’s tie none too gently. Hard enough to block a little air. 

“You’re right. I’m not from here. But back im sure that taking  _ private  _  locker room photos of a minor is not accepted here either. So let me make one thing  _ very  _ clear.” The man spluttered as Victor pulled harder. 

“If I see  _ any  _ other photos, I will  _ personally  _ castrate you myself. Understand?” 

The man nodded, face turning a splotchy red. 

“Good. You’ll be hearing from Rusfed soon. I advise that you answer. We Russians don’t take attacks on athletes  lightly. Especially national team members.” He let go suddenly, smirking when the coach flopped painfully back on to the ground. 

“And one more thing” he stood back up, straightening up his suit. 

“If you ever hurt my Yuuri again, I will kill you. Slowly. Painfully. In the Russian way.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh. My. God. Ohmygod.  _ OhmyGOD.  _ Is this real!? Are my eyes  _ not  _ malfunctioning?" Isaac replayed the video once more, watching with just as much enthusiasm had he had the first five times. 

"Acne? Cleared. Motivation? Found. Hotel? Trivago. Hot  _ damn _ !"

“Question.” 

Isaac looked up from his screen.

“Hmm-are you okay…?” curiosity morphed into concern as he processed Yuuri’s uncharacteristic disheveled look. Like he’d just gotten out of bed and thrown on a cap over what he’d been wearing at practice, looking high key stressed. 

“Have you been able to get into your email and blackboard and stuff?” he didn’t bother sitting, gripping and ungripping his backpack strap, obviously agitated at something.

“Yeah? I haven’t had a problem with it.” Isaac turned and nudged Darius and Andrew.

“Have you guys had problems with blackboard or log in?” 

“No?” Andrew shrugged. 

“I checked my email like three minutes ago” Darius added. 

“Oh… I think I’ve been locked out or something. But IT has been putting me on hold for over an hour…”

“That’s strange. You should for sure take your computer to the IT center in person. The wait is normally shorter.” Isaac answered with a grimace. 

“But hey, kudos to you and Victor. You guys are seriously badass. Like  _ damn,  _ the man’s got a mean uppercut.” 

Yuuri chuckled, breaking through the stress for a moment. 

“He’s really protective over people he cares for, and no one, absolutely  _ no one  _ is allowed to trash talk or touch Yuri. He’s a non negotiable topic.”

“Hey-uh-Yuuri.” Darius looked up from his computer slowly, looking confused. 

“Did you-did you put out a statement or something after the clinic thing you did with Isaac and the rest of the team?” 

“No?”

“Um...I think I know why you’re having IT problems.” 

“Oh..?”

Darius opted to just hand the laptop over into Yuuri’s hands.

“They posted this last night…” Yuuri muttered, eyes widening in shock. 

“No. This can’t be real. They can’t just-” he reread the article again. 

“What? What happened?” Isaac looked between Yuuri and Darius, trying to figure out what had gotten the skater so flustered. 

“Are they serious?!” he handed the laptop back before taking out his phone. 

There were no new messages. No missed calls.  _ Definitely  _ no emails since he was blocked. 

He wasted no further time, dialing Victor’s number, waiting impatiently while chewing his bottom lip anxiously.

“Yuuri?  Aren’t you in class right now?” 

“That’s not important right now, Vitya. We have a problem.” 

“Are you alright? Did something happen?” he sounded significantly more worried.

“The school’s put out a statement about me. I’m on academic suspension for slander, Vitya. They’ve suspended me for slander and libel and  they’re apparently taking steps into legal action.”

“You’re joking…”

“I can’t-can you come get me, please. I need to go. I can’t be here right now.” 

“Alright, love. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just stay where you are, alright?”

“Thank you.” 

 

“They’ve taken down the statement, but I still haven’t been contacted about anything yet.”

It was nearing one in the afternoon and the cozy diner by the lecture hall’s building was starting to fill up. 

“So I can’t even tell whether I’m still a student or not, but this has to work out soon because I’m in danger of losing my student visa. And once that’s gone I’ll have to fully leave the country.” he stabbed anxiously at the piece of chocolate cake in front of him, completely oblivious to Victor’s worried stare. 

“And then it’s going to end up on my transcript permanently and I won’t be able to transfer anywhere else and-”

“Yuuri.” Victor finally put his foot down, reaching over to grab Yuuri’s shaking hands with his own. 

“It’s going to be fine. They can’t just do this you know. You’re a student and you weren’t informed so the fact that they uploaded it via social media is reason enough for you to fight back. You haven’t done anything wrong, and if anything, they’re just trying to cover their tracks with the whole photo thing.”

Yuuri met Victor’s eyes on, clinging on to the man’s unwavering sureness. 

“And I’ve requested a lawyer already for the whole clinic incident so he should be arriving around ten tonight. We’ll be able to go in and talk face to face tomorrow with a lawyer on our side.”

“Wait, really?” 

“Yes, really. So what’s left for us to do is stay inside and wait. No comments no replies. Nothing until the lawyer arrives, and then it’s war.”

 

“So run me through the events. Everything. From the beginning.” 

Yuri stared expectantly at the two seated next to each other on the sofa from his own little nest on the single seater. 

The tall brunette man with the dark grey eyes sat across from them on the loveseat. 

Even Yuri could tell that this man meant business.

Possibly around the normal parameters if his broken looking nose and rough knuckles were anything to go by.

“I applied for my student visa around July after I got my acceptance letter in my May. It’s a little hectic this season at the rink so I figured I could take a season partly off. So Victor stayed behind to coach Yuri and practice for this season and I came to the US alone.”

The man jotted a few notes down in sharp cursive. 

“No one really knew I was here. I wanted that to be kept on the low. I used a rink nearby with a temp coach while going to classes. But then I met this guy in the school’s figure skating team and he was telling me about how they had an issue with proper coaching. That the school was making the hockey team and the figure skating team share a coach. I saw for myself how terrible the coach was. Borderline abusive. That’s around when the whole ‘divorce’ thing came up and I replied to Blonde-love on twitter, but I didn’t tag my location or anything.”

The man nodded, gesturing for Yuuri to continue. 

“And then I-uh...I called UoM out on twitter about the hockey coach thing and that’s when people realized where I was.” 

The man quirked a brow, pausing momentarily before continuing with his notes. 

“And we had a meeting the day of with the athletic director and the hockey coach and the team and myself. I voiced my concerns and they gave me a date, that friday, so that the hockey coach and the athletic board could get everything settled officially. So we did have a meeting on Friday, actually. Phichit Chulanont made it all the way to UoM. He sat in my 9:45 class. He was with me in the meeting when they reinstated the coach as  _ just  _ the hockey coach and okayed an impromptu weekend clinic. Victor came and brought Yuri as well. And Giacometti dropped in as well. It was all a surprise.” 

“They allowed your clinic?” 

Yuuri nodded. 

“We were nearly halfway done with day one. Did conditioning and had a studio session and had lunch before we even got close to being on the ice-”

“Technically you and the team weren’t on the ice until then. Giacometti, Chulanont, and I were on the ice until your studio session ended.” Yuri piped up. 

“Oh yeah. True. So it was Victor and the team and me that hadn’t actually gotten on the ice yet. But we were on the way to the ice when Phichit noticed something was up with Victor and Yuri, which is when they found the uploaded locker room photos.” 

“It was so sudden and my notifications blew up.” Victor nodded. 

“But I just thought it was something to do with the program so we went ahead and got everyone to lace up. They were back by that time and we all rushed the ice but it was weird. Someone had thrown road salt on the ice and melted the top so that it wasn’t visible. We all got hurt and everyone’s blades sustained damage. So I called the athletic director and got him to talk. We all knew who it was but he was adamant about keeping the coach, coach Sullivan. So we didn’t settle and ended the meeting there.” 

“So the athletic director didn’t take action?” 

“No. He was dead set on protecting Sullivan. But he  _ was  _ informed that there would be legal proceedings.” 

“We had a meeting the next day when the man requested an urgent meeting. The coach was there and he was fired, but he took it personally and harrassed not only me but also Yuuri and made vulgar comments about Plisetsky who is a minor so I threw a few punches but it was instigated.” Victor added with a scowl.

“And then I went to class this morning and found out why I’ve been locked out. No notice or anything. So that’s where we’re at right now.” Yuuri continued. 

The man sighed, recapping his pen.

“I told you it would be complicated, Grigory.” Victor smiled dryly. 

“You know, Victor, of all of the things that I had to clear in terms of legality for you, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t sit all that high up on the list.” the man quirked a challenging brow. 

Staring Victor down. 

“But as for you, Mr. Katsuki, this shouldn't be too difficult of a case. But I do recommend that you keep your distance from UoM for a few days. I’ll be contacting the embassy to inform them of your situation with the visa as well.”    

“Thank you.” 

“And you, Plisetsky.”

“What?”

“Hate to say it, but your end is gonna require a press conference or two. How do you feel about ESPN?”


End file.
